UGANDA: Women's land rights in the limelight

Overview:

Women in Africa, Uganda inclusive, continue to be denied the right to inherit land from their parents and spouses. Land inheritance in many cultures is a preserve of the boy child, while the women are only allowed user rights. To make matters worse, even the few that are chanced to inherit land from either their parents of husbands, later have it grabbed from them by close relatives or in some instances by outsiders. Majority of the rural women are very poor and have no capacity for legal representation. This puts them at a huge disadvantage when faced with land related court cases.

However, in the midst of all this, some few scattered women across the country have successfully been able to fight for their land rights either through formal court systems or mediation at various levels. The Uganda Land Alliance is undertaking a project to capture the practical success stories of these isolated cases to set a precedent for other women facing challenges on their land rights.

This video captures perspectives from Northern Uganda. The Documentation team has done exclusive profiles of women in Pader, Apac, Amuru and Gulu districts giving an opportunity to the men to defend their cause. Along the way, some men have showed a change of heart and are in support of women's land ownership.

Exclusive profiles have also been done in Kyenjojo, Mubende, Hoima and Jinja districts.

A complete documentary detailing the entire project will be produced by the ULA Secretariat by end of August 2011 and will be available online for further analysis and synthesis.

ULA is also planning to produce a publication by December 2011 providing a pictorial and written version of the cases profiled.

Send us an E-mail on: tdeo@ulaug.org
Let us know your comment on this video and share your perspectives on whether women too deserve to inherit land.

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