#SheActs4Feminomics: Spotlighting Women’s Land Rights
17th October 2022
By Chikulamayembe Women Forum
“If you give a woman land, you give her two things, food and money. She is able to sustain herself and her children.” Ellen Matupi, President, Coalition of Women Farmers.
According to UN Women, 70% of the entire Agricultural workforce in Malawi is women; however, statistics show that women own only 17% of land in the country. Despite this evidence, women’s access to land remains limited in Malawi and across many regions in Africa.
In Malawi, both matrilineal and patrilineal land is governed through customary systems, where in the matrilineal system, women in the family inherit land, and the man moves into the woman’s family home after marriage, whereas in the patrilineal system, where the inheritance is passed on to the sons, the woman moves in with the husbands family. In both systems however, men (husband, maternal uncle, or both) are often the decision makers regarding access to and control over the land. This leaves women vulnerable to plethora of abuses including physical and financial abuse.
In the past few years, there have been various efforts to alleviate the situation, including the drafting and passing of the Land Rights Act in 2016, which recognizes women’s customary land rights, and the rights of communities to ancestral land.
Research has shown that equal land rights and access empowers women to meaningfully participate in decision making for sustainability of their lives, Despite the Land Act (2016), women’s access to land is limited because of the normalized patriarchal norms that influence the status quo in many Malawian communities, including in Rumphi.
Through the #SheActs4Feminomics project, Chikulamayembe Women Forum is working to raise awareness and build the capacity of men and women in the community, with a special focus on Chiefs, to advance Women’s land rights.
The project leverages the power of collective campaigning to place this issue at the centre of public discourse; and brings on board key partners including the Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre (MHRRC), The National Association of Business Women (NABW), For Equality, and the Coalition for the Empowerment of Women and Girls (CEWAG).
Chikulamayembe Women Forum seeks to fight all forms of discrimination and violence against women, girls and other vulnerable groups in Paramount Chief Chikulamayembe in Rumphi District
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