Afterword: Securing women’s land rights

Summary

What Remains to be Done?

With this book we have tried to offer a nuanced picture of how the issues of privatization, gender relations and land rights are currently interacting in Eastern Africa as a contribution to the debate on how women's rights can best be secured in the overarching context of the increasing ‘privatization’ of land tenure. The detailed and differentiated analysis of what is happening on the ground that has been presented herein points up once more the continuing invalidity of some of the more common assumptions about women's rights to land in Eastern Africa, and the limits to securing them through policy and legislation alone. Women are not powerless actors, and the case study chapters of this volume in particular have provided ample illustration of the multiple and creative ways which women have found to claim and ensure their rights to land. We therefore hope that, collectively, we have provided fresh inspiration to all those who are in a position to change the situation for the better. It remains only to ask: What still needs to be done? How can women best be supported in their continuing struggles over land?

Drawing on all the contributions to this volume, and co-authored by all the contributors, this Afterword therefore aims to suggest the best ways forward in securing land rights for women. In the following sections, we first make some general observations about the impact of land tenure privatization on women's land rights thus far, and then examine how the new policies and laws address women's rights. In drawing together our conclusions we focus, first, on the best ways to implement the new policies and laws and, second, on the importance of civil society in supporting women's land rights more broadly.