Legal Protection on Women’s Property Rights as Panacea to Poverty Reduction and Environmental Sustainability in Uganda
Keywords:
Discriminatory Practices, Environmental Sustainability, Poverty Reduction, Women’s participation, International Human Rights Norms
Abstract
The exclusion of women from owing and inheriting land in Uganda through Customary law and discriminatory practices has continued to generate debates among scholars. The practice has provided basis for women’s economic dependability on men and their exclusion in decision making process in the Uganda society thereby increasing their poverty level and harsh economic condition. The writer relies on historical and content analysis methods to examine the provisions of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda in conjunction with religious ethics, the 1998 Land Act and international human rights norms on women’s property rights. The paper analyses the provisions of law and religion on women’s property rights, the challenges facing women’s property rights and how law and religion can guarantee the protection of women’s property rights. The paper examines how the protection of women’s property rights serves as measure for poverty reduction and environmental sustainable in Uganda. The paper establishes that inclusion of co-ownership clause in the Land Act will promote women’s participation in decision on land matters and that religion practices will guarantee equality of women with men. The paper demonstrates that lack of clear legal definition of women’s property rights and the continued application of outdated laws impede their protection, exposes them to poverty, leads to low agricultural productivity and it creates environmentally unsuitable farming practices in the country.
References
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Food Agricultural Organisation, ‘Rural Women and Access to Justice. FAO Contribution to Committee on the Elimination of all Discrimination against Women CEDAW, 2013, p. 2.
R. Giovarelli. Customary Law, Household Distribution of Wealth and Women’s Rights to Land and Property, SEATLE J. SOC JUST, 805-807(2005).
Adoko and Levine, Falling between Two Stools: How Women’s Land Rights are not Lost between State and Customary Law in Apac District, Northern Uganda, Nairobi: EAEP, Kampala Fountain Publishers, 2008, p. 103.
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Land and Equity Management in Uganda. “How can we Turn Legal Anarchy into Harmonious Legal Pluralisation? Why Interpretation is the Key to Legal Pluralism in Northern and eastern Uganda, 201, p. 3.
Barbara G., “Women’s Land Rights and Tenure Security in Uganda: Experiences from Mbale, APAC and Ntungamo.” Stichproben.Wiener Zeitschrift Fur Kritsche Afrikastudie, 2013, vol. 1, issue 24, pp. 1-132 at pp. 6-7.
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Tripp A M., “Women Movements, Customary Law and Land Rights in Africa: The Case of Uganda.” African Studies Quarters. 2004, vol. 7, issue 4, p. 11.
Barbara, above n. 47, p. 9.
Id.
Martin, Rural Women Still Have Few Rights to Land in Uganda.
Barbara, above n. 47, p. 9.
Bikaako W and Ssenkumba J., “Gender, land and Rights: Contestations in Law, Policy and Practice in Uganda,” in Wanyeki LM (ed). Women and Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and Realising Women’s Rights, London, New York: Zed Books, 2003, pp. 232-277 at p. 255.
Barbara, above n. 47, p. 12.
Id.
Adoko J., “The Impact of the Presumption that Women Do not Own Land, Women’s Land Rights and Ugandan Land Act,” 2002, p. 2.
Adoko, above n. 34.
Adoko, above n. 44, pp. 101-120.
Barbara, above n. 47, p. 14.
Id.
Adams M and Palm R., “Independent Review of land Issues, Eastern and Southern Africa.” 111 (2006-2007), 2007, p. 59..
Wmebaza R and Sebina-Zziwa A., “Challenges to District Land Board in the First Four Years of their Existence: Reviewing the District Land Boards.” Ugandan Land Alliance, 2005, p. 21.
Land and Equity Movement in Uganda (LEMU) “Why is the Legal System Failing to Protect People’s Land Rights?” Policy Document, 2009a, p. 2. < http://www.land-in-uganda.org/assets/policybrief3-why-is-the-legal-systme-failing-to-protect-land-rights-26-9-2009.pdf>
Martin, Rural Women Still Have Few Rights to land in Uganda.
Martin, Rural Women Still Have Few Rights to land in Uganda.
Ahikire J., “Cutting the Coat According to the Cloth: Decentralisation and Women’s Agency on Land Rights in Uganda.” Centre for Basic Research (CBR), Working Paper No.97/2011, Kampala CBR, 2011, p. 31.
Barbara, above n. 47, p. 26.
Adoko J and Levine S., “Land Rights: Where we are now and where we need to Go.” A Review of Situation of Land Rights in APPAC District in Uganda, and of Opportunities for Land Rights Protection Work, Based on the Work of LEMU in (2003-2004), 2005a, p. 15.
Ahikire, above n. 68, p. 31.
Id, p. 26.
Adoko, above n. 70, p. 15.
Land and Equity Management in Uganda, 3.
LEMU, “How Does Land Grabbing Happen?” (Policy Document, 2009), p. 2.
Eilor E and Giovarelli R., “Land Sector Analysis: General Family Issues and Land Rights Components.” Final Report, the Government of Republic of Uganda. Grant No. PHRD/02/04. Rural Development Institute, 2002, p. 18.
C. Immaculate, Land Rights and Gender in Uganda: Widows’ Journey to Justice in Kapchorwa District, MASTER OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, 20, The Hague:the Netherlands, 2015.
B. Agarwal, A Field of One’s Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia, 235, Vol. 8, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Art 237 (3), Constitution of Republic of Uganda, 1995.
INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN AND UGANDA LAND ALLIANCE, Property Rights and Family: A Training Toolkit,2010, https://www.icrw.org/files/images/Property-Rights-and-Gender-A-Training-Toolkit-Property-in-Marriage-and-Family, (last visited Jan. 1, 2021).
G. Barbara, Caught between Customary and State Law: Women’s Land Rights in Uganda in the Context of Increasing Privatization of Land Tenure System, https:omokoro.uk/wp_content/uploads/Diplomaarbeit_BarbaraGarber_01.pdf (last visited Jan. 10, 2021)
J. Koopman, Women in the Rural Economy: Past, Present and Future, African Women South of the Sahara, NY: Longman Sci. Tech. Jour., 3-22, (1995).
Women’s Rights in Uganda: Gaps between Policy and Practice, 2009, httpps://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/uganda582afinalpdf (last visited Jan. 5, 2021).
The Uganda National Land Policy. 2013, p. 25.
International Centre for Research on Women and Uganda Alliance, pp. 22-23.
Francis, Sylla, Antonio and Simon, Strengthening Women’s Land Rights and Security of Tenure for all on Customary Land Settings, WB CONF. ON LAND AND PROPERTY: THE WORLD BANK, 9 Washington DC, 2015.
Tripp, Women Movements, Customary Laws and Land Rights in Africa: A Case of Uganda,” AFRICAN STUDIES QUART., 2004.
A. Kapur, Two Faces of Change: The Need for a Bi-Directional Approach to Improve Women’s Land Rights in Plural Legal Systems, INT. DEV. LAW ORG., 2011, https://www.idlo.int/publications/WP2-Mozambique.pdf, (last visited Jan. 9, 2021)
World Bank Report, 2003, p. 58.
Id.
B. Englert, The World Bank and Land Rights in Africa: An Analysis of the Policy Research Report on Land PRR, 2003.” Occasional Id.Paper Series No. 3, Department of African Studies, University of Vienna, 2005.
Ingunn, I, et al., “Human Rights, Formalisation and Women’s Land Rights in Southern and Eastern Africa.” Study Women’s Law, No. 57, Institute of Women’s Law, University of Oslo, Norway, 2005, p. 34.
Id, p. 18.
Alden W L., “Land Rights Reform and Governance in Africa: How to make it in 21st Century.” Discussion Paper, United Nations Development Programme. 2006.
Ikdah I., “Go Home and Clear the Conflict: Human Rights Perspectives on Gender and Land in Tanzania,” in Englert B and Daley E (eds). Women’s Land Rights and Privatilisation in Eastern Africa. Oxford Publishers, 2008, pp. 40-60 at p. 47.
Englert, above n. 16.
Ikdahl, above n. 20, p. 56.
Leslie H., “Women’s Land Rights in Uganda.” Centre for Women’s Land Right, 2014, p. 5.
Id, p. 6.
Al-Niasai 4: 19.
Id, 34.
Women’s Rights in Uganda: Gaps between Policy and Practice, 2009, p.19. https:www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/uganda582afinalpdf (Last visited Jan. 20, 2021)
H. Gondi., Poverty in Social Context. The Tenth Africa Training Course on Local and Regional Development Planning and management, Module 3: Panel on Poverty Reduction UNCRD and AICAD, 2005.
Central Bank of Nigeria, Strategies for Improving Poverty Alleviation Programme in Nigeria, PUB. OF THE CEN. BANK OF NIG. (1999).
A. Jacqueline, Making Women’s Land Rights a Reality in Uganda: Advocacy for Co-ownership by Spouses, YALE HUM. RIG. AND DEV. JOUR. 4 (2-18), 2014.
Paradigm Consult and Policy Analysis and Advocacy Center. Co-ownership of Land by Spouses, 2000.
Id, p. 25.
Jacqueline, Supra note 31.
Adoko J, Jeremy A and Racheal K., Understanding and Strengthening Women’s Land Rights under Customary Tenure in Uganda, 2011, p. 4, https:landportal.org/sites/default/files/2._understanding_and_strengthening_women’s_land_rights_under_customary_tenure_in_uganda (Last visited on March 10, 2021)
M. Rugadya, Gender in Uganda National Land Policy: Issues, Theories and Policy Responses: Implications for Poverty Social Impact Assessment in Uganda. MFRED, Kampala, 2007.
Gender in Uganda National Land Policy: Issues, Theories and Policy Responses: Implications for Poverty Social Impact Assessment in Uganda.
Id.
Supra note 36.
Supra note 36
Id.
G. Martin, Rural Women Still Have Few Rights to Land in Uganda, GUAR.WEEK.INT. EDI. 26 March 2009. https://ww.theguardian.com/katine/2009/mar/26/women-land-rights (Last visited on March 10, 2021).
Food Agricultural Organisation, ‘Rural Women and Access to Justice. FAO Contribution to Committee on the Elimination of all Discrimination against Women CEDAW, 2013, p. 2.
R. Giovarelli. Customary Law, Household Distribution of Wealth and Women’s Rights to Land and Property, SEATLE J. SOC JUST, 805-807(2005).
Adoko and Levine, Falling between Two Stools: How Women’s Land Rights are not Lost between State and Customary Law in Apac District, Northern Uganda, Nairobi: EAEP, Kampala Fountain Publishers, 2008, p. 103.
Office of the Auditor General. “Value for Money Audit Report on the Functionality of Land Management Institutions in Uganda, 2011, p. 10.
Land and Equity Management in Uganda. “How can we Turn Legal Anarchy into Harmonious Legal Pluralisation? Why Interpretation is the Key to Legal Pluralism in Northern and eastern Uganda, 201, p. 3.
Barbara G., “Women’s Land Rights and Tenure Security in Uganda: Experiences from Mbale, APAC and Ntungamo.” Stichproben.Wiener Zeitschrift Fur Kritsche Afrikastudie, 2013, vol. 1, issue 24, pp. 1-132 at pp. 6-7.
Id, p. 8.
Id.
Tripp A M., “Women Movements, Customary Law and Land Rights in Africa: The Case of Uganda.” African Studies Quarters. 2004, vol. 7, issue 4, p. 11.
Barbara, above n. 47, p. 9.
Id.
Martin, Rural Women Still Have Few Rights to Land in Uganda.
Barbara, above n. 47, p. 9.
Bikaako W and Ssenkumba J., “Gender, land and Rights: Contestations in Law, Policy and Practice in Uganda,” in Wanyeki LM (ed). Women and Land in Africa: Culture, Religion and Realising Women’s Rights, London, New York: Zed Books, 2003, pp. 232-277 at p. 255.
Barbara, above n. 47, p. 12.
Id.
Adoko J., “The Impact of the Presumption that Women Do not Own Land, Women’s Land Rights and Ugandan Land Act,” 2002, p. 2.
Adoko, above n. 34.
Adoko, above n. 44, pp. 101-120.
Barbara, above n. 47, p. 14.
Id.
Adams M and Palm R., “Independent Review of land Issues, Eastern and Southern Africa.” 111 (2006-2007), 2007, p. 59.
Wmebaza R and Sebina-Zziwa A., “Challenges to District Land Board in the First Four Years of their Existence: Reviewing the District Land Boards.” Ugandan Land Alliance, 2005, p. 21.
Land and Equity Movement in Uganda (LEMU) “Why is the Legal System Failing to Protect People’s Land Rights?” Policy Document, 2009a, p. 2. < http://www.land-in-uganda.org/assets/policybrief3-why-is-the-legal-systme-failing-to-protect-land-rights-26-9-2009.pdf>
Martin, Rural Women Still Have Few Rights to land in Uganda.
Martin, Rural Women Still Have Few Rights to land in Uganda.
Ahikire J., “Cutting the Coat According to the Cloth: Decentralisation and Women’s Agency on Land Rights in Uganda.” Centre for Basic Research (CBR), Working Paper No.97/2011, Kampala CBR, 2011, p. 31.
Barbara, above n. 47, p. 26.
Adoko J and Levine S., “Land Rights: Where we are now and where we need to Go.” A Review of Situation of Land Rights in APPAC District in Uganda, and of Opportunities for Land Rights Protection Work, Based on the Work of LEMU in (2003-2004), 2005a, p. 15.
Ahikire, above n. 68, p. 31.
Id, p. 26.
Adoko, above n. 70, p. 15.
Land and Equity Management in Uganda, 3.
LEMU, “How Does Land Grabbing Happen?” (Policy Document, 2009), p. 2.
Eilor E and Giovarelli R., “Land Sector Analysis: General Family Issues and Land Rights Components.” Final Report, the Government of Republic of Uganda. Grant No. PHRD/02/04. Rural Development Institute, 2002, p. 18.
Published
2022-02-21
How to Cite
Adekunle, H. (2022). Legal Protection on Women’s Property Rights as Panacea to Poverty Reduction and Environmental Sustainability in Uganda. GLS Law Journal , 4(1), 5 - 21. https://doi.org/10.69974/glslawjournal.v4i1.55
Section
Articles
