1. GENDER, LAND TENURE SECURITY AND HOUSEHOLD WELFARE IN GUSII, KENYA
Dolphine Isinta (Researcher), Michael Flitner (Supervisor), University
Bremen,

2. Scope Background Key questions Study area Study approach Obstacles
Recommendations
Source: The Standard newspaper
Source: Daily Nation newspaper, Kisii County in pictures

3. Background Women’s precolonial rights to land
Gendered land distribution from formalization onset
Secure land rights are linked to higher farm income
Main food producers and responsible for household welfare
Women still lack secure land rights despite legal provision
Securing women’s rights to land in realization of some SDGs

4. Key questions
What are the key obstacles to securing women’s land rights in Gusii, Kenya?
How can these obstacles be overcome?
Source: The standard newspaper online

5. Study area: rural Gusii, Kenya
High dependence on land
Population – density and growth
Patrilineal descent
Conservative gender roles (cf. Silberschmidt 1999)

6. Study approach
Qualitative study based so far on review of newspapers and academic literature
Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) framework (Rocheleau et al. 1996, Sundberg 2017)
Empirical case studies in the region scheduled using In- depth interviews and focus group discussions

7. Why FPE? Gender is critical in access and control of resources
Gendered roles
Formal and informal
Intersectionality
Violent conflict

8. Women’s rights to land and SDGs
Gender equality
Improved education attainment
Spending on food and education
Higher income
Poverty reduction
Peace, Justice & strong institutions

9. Obstacles Education: high illiteracy and poverty rural among women
Broad civic education
Access and control: Customary patrilineal descent
De facto rights: Women rarely hold formal rights to land
Resolution: unclearly defined justice channels

10. More obstacles Customary laws often override the constitutional rights
Female-headed households are at high risk of losing de facto land rights (cf. Boone 2014)
Land shortage in the region is pronounced
Cost and process of justice can be substantial (time, finances, distance, corruption)
Regardless of access to land, women are usually responsible for household welfare

11. Preliminary recommendations
Broad civic education on women’s constitutional land rights including campaigns on joint land registration
Reducing cost and simplifying land registration processes
Systematic monitoring of gender issues as part of any future digitalization efforts in land administration
Capacity building and gender quota in the land department

12. THANK YOU!!

13. Selected References
Allendorf, K. (2007). Do women’s land rights promote empowerment and child health in Nepal? World Development 35(11),
Boone, C. (2014). Land Conflict at Micro-scale level: Family. In C. Boone (Ed.), Property and Political Order in Africa: Land Rights and the Structure of Politics (pp ). Cambridge.
Henrysson, E., & Joireman, S.F. (2009). On the Edge of the Law: Women's Property Rights and Dispute Resolution in Kisii, Kenya.
Masese, R. E. (2006). Traditional Land Tenure. In In J.S. Akama, & R.M. Maxen(Eds.), Ethnography of the Gusii of Western Kenya (pp ). Lewiston.
Ng'ang'a, T. K. (2010). Women in Kenya, A second class citizen. In S. Sarkar (Ed.), Gender Rights and Security (pp ), New-Delhi.
Rocheleau, D., Thomas-Slayter, B., & Wangari, E., (Eds.)(1996). Feminist political ecology: Global issues and local experience, London.
Silberschmidt, M. (1999). "Women forget that men are the masters": gender antagonism and socio-economic change in Kisii District, Kenya. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute.
Sundberg, J. (2017). Feminist political ecology. The International Encyclopedia of Geography.