Research findings include: land rights in marriage and during cohabitation; daughters and inheritance rights; land disputes; land administration and registration; education and monitoring implementation of the Land Law.

Paper introduces the rationale for focusing on women’s land rights and explains the Learning Route methodology and the preparation of this Route in particular, before providing background information on land tenure and women’s land rights in Rwanda and Burundi.

Review of the situation of land rights in Apac District and of opportunities for land rights protection work. Examines the 1998 Land Act and its implementation in practice. Finds that the protection clauses for women are proving ineffective. Also looks at the major threats and barriers to land rights and suggests ways forward. Among many other pertinent questions, asks why the Ugandan Government has shown so little interest in customary tenure and why it pursues land titling to the extent it does.

The workshop was held in Lusaka as part of FAO’s initiative in the area of women’s property rights in the context of HIV and AIDS. Report covers legal issues of, and lessons on, women’s land and property rights in Zambia; Theresa Chilala’s case; testimonies by widows and orphans in Zambia; successful interventions to protect women’s property rights by authorities � lessons from the region; inspiring initiatives by women and grassroots groups; key recommendations; working group deliberations; press release; opening and closing speeches; strategic framework.

Argues that using customary tenure as a basis for protecting women’s rights may be more effective than lobbying for reinsertion of the ‘lost’ co-ownership clause in the Uganda Land Act.

Report divided into 5 sections: inheritance and property rights; disability rights, HIV & AIDS, women’s property rights and livelihoods; survival strategies, nutrition, psychosocial support, economic empowerment, and self-reliance; self-reliance and economic empowerment for women in the context of HIV and AIDS; inspiring initiatives from the region (Zambia, Uganda, and Kenya). Contains a number of personal testimonies. Launched the famous T-shirt: ’property and a piece of land give women peace of mind’.

Includes introduction; vulnerabilities shared among all women; different categories of women have different vulnerabilities – widows, unmarried girls, divorced women, separated women, cohabiting women, married women; proposed solutions. Argues that rather than working against custom, policymakers and activists should be creative in identifying a range of culturally-appropriate solutions within custom that can successfully strengthen, defend and protect women’s land rights.

Includes the issue of gender in access to land, a major source of inequality; FIG declarations and guidelines are gender sensitive; why mainstreaming and what is it about?; ideas for an action plan including – gender disaggregated land data and gender sensitive indicators; understanding and working with gender roles under plural legal regimes; making socio-economic studies a part of planning land reforms and cadastral systems; developing simple, local methods of land administration; improving the gender balance at all levels in land administration; ensuring participation of women in impleme

Asks what is customary tenure and what do we know about tenure systems and their consequences in Northern Uganda. Examines trends in land transactions and who is selling and buying land, certificates and titles for investment, and who owns customary land. Looks at protection from land alienation, the rights of women and children, the evolution of customary tenure and continuing changes in customary law. Concludes with policy recommendations and a plea for recognition that land is increasingly a cause of conflict and impoverishment.

Focuses on women’s perceptions of land rights in the communal areas of Namaqualand in the Northern Cape. Explores the links between patriarchal social systems and women’s conservative attitudes towards holding land and shows how current policy processes and legislation allow local customs to continue to entrench gender discriminatory practices. Findings indicate that women are disadvantaged by historical norms, values and attitudes, which afford them only secondary rights to land.

Contains defining gender-based violence; property grabbing as a form of this; HIV and AIDS and property grabbing; women’s property rights: the erosion of customary norms and practice; statutory legal reform � is it the answer?; empirical evidence from Southern and Eastern Africa; responses to property grabbing; conclusion. Argues that the harassment and humiliation that often accompany property grabbing further strip women of their self-esteem, affecting their ability to defend their rights.

Investigates how access to and control over land and labour rights are governed by gender and how that determines men’s and women’s social goals in production and reproduction. Shows how land, besides being a natural resource for food production, is also an important social, cultural and intergenerational symbol, especially for men.