20 November 2018: Land rights organization Landesa and its partners have launched a global advocacy campaign aimed at increasing legal protections for women to use, manage, own and inherit land. With an initial focus on Tanzania, the partners aim to extend the campaign to Liberia, India, Brazil and Kenya, followed by other countries around the world over the coming decade.

The campaign was announced at the 2018 Trust Conference, an annual human rights forum, which took place from 14-15 November 2018 in London, UK.

The advocacy initiative is based on the recognition that women in some of the most marginalized communities around the world suffer from double discrimination. First, as the primary custodians of half of the world’s land, indigenous peoples and local communities only enjoy secure tenure over 10% percent of this land. Secondly, women’s rights as land holders and users are not recognized across many national legal frameworks as well as customary systems, where land ownership and access are primarily governed through the male lineage.

Women’s rights as land holders and users are not recognized across many national legal frameworks and customary systems.

The campaign aims to achieve four key objectives: mobilize operational partners – both international organizations and local civil society networks – to help close the gap between law and practice; provide pro bono legal support as well as communications and advocacy expertise to strengthen legal implementation policies and practices locally; bring on board media partners to help amplify stories about women’s land rights from the ground; and generate financial resources to roll out the campaign.

There are a number of global policy frameworks that provide explicit goals and targets for achieving gender equality in land tenure rights. The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), outline core principles and practices for designing land-related strategies. The SDGs also contain explicit indicators for monitoring women’s land rights. Under SDG 1 (no poverty), indicator 1.4.2 calls for gender disaggregated data on secure tenure rights to land. SDG 5 (gender equality) includes two relevant indicators: 5.a.1, which tracks women’s ownership of agricultural land; and 5.a.2, on the presence of legal frameworks guaranteeing women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control. [Landesa Press Release] [Landesa Call to Action] [Landesa Blog Post on Women’s Land Rights in the SDGs] [Overview of Women’s Land Rights in FAO Voluntary Guidelines]