Women and Land

Expanding women's right to use land is fundamental to battle food shortage and penury. Nevertheless, gender differences to gain access to land is still a big issues in virtually all the countries in the world particularly Africa and this no doubt impedes development both in rural and urban cities.

Land axiomatically, makes it available for rural dwellers to have essential needs for survival and market making. Land gives out what all humans need to live and be alive. Even as countries all over are embracing industrial goods and rural earnings focus less on agriculture, land no doubt dominates vital resources for global existence both in rural and urban cities.

Event of year 2006-2008 food cost challenges becomes a testament of the social and economic implication of women's minimal access to land as this no doubt metamorphosed into unduly larger welfare sufferings of female-headed households. The harmful effect on food safety was large as these households (women) spend a larger part of their earnings on food.

Issues on gender inequality in land right and access to land is all-encompassing particularly in Africa where it has become a norm to deny women access to land. Women do not only have minimal access to land compare to their male counterpart, they face restriction to land right, most women can only access land if allowed to do so by family members through consensus. In most African countries, Women lose entitlements to land when divorced and if she becomes a widow. Even when women are allowed to hold a portion of land, they always have a small portion of land allocated to them and in most cases this portion is not always enough for them in the case of women farmers.

In recourse to international assessment of agricultural survey, it shows that fewer than 20% of landholders are women. This revelation is dismal in Western Central Africa, East and North Africa where it was found that fewer than 10% of landholders are women. In Asia, the percentage varies just in a small figure, though the case of Eastern and Southern Africa and in parts of Latin America, presents a difference here as women appear to have better access to land.

 Most of the efforts geared towards solving this injustice facing women seem not to have yielded fruit. The sufficing example of Vietnam that kicked off in 1998 stands here where the government of Vietnam gave relatively right to land to women who have previously farmed in the land. Unfortunately, even when there is statute that gives women access and right to land in some countries including Will their access to land and land rights has shown to be difficult to attain. All the factors impeding women's right to land must be addressed as their denial of access and right to land has global socio-political, economic and cultural implication.

In all sense of aphorism and axiomatic assertion, giving women access to land will be a commanding means to battle poverty and hunger.  Under the economic trend, if something drastically is not done to curb the denial of women access to land and use of land especially the rural women who are mostly farmers, the tendency is that we may face another serious food scarcity in the nearest possible time particularly in Africa where most of the rural income is on farming and women contribute 80% to 85% of agricultural produce in these rural communities and also transported to urban cities for consumption. Thus moves to tackle these injustice women go through as regards access and right to land must be a global concern to all. The same way climate change attracts global interests, so also women right and access to land must attract global interest.