NYASHANA, Tanzania (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As Tanzanian widow Ruth Zacharia raised her right arm to protect her skull from a volley of machete blows, her three attackers sliced through her hand.

She fell to the floor; one leg slid into the kitchen fire.

"They said: 'We have been sent by our mother because you killed our father so that you could buy that land'," the 63-year-old recalled, fidgeting with her stiff, scarred right hand.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

By: Caroline Wambui

Tabitha Karimi could barely hide her delight at the thought of a bumper harvest as she took part in training on how to farm with crops specially adapted to the region, after many years of poor harvests in Tharaka in eastern Kenya.

By: Kamanthi Wickramasinghe

Date: November 2nd 2016

Source: Daily Mirror

The law relating to land rights and land contracts in Sri Lanka have been embedded in a complex web of statutes that existed since the year 1863. This was during the colonial rule, a period in which the  patriarchal system prevailed.   

By: Rina Chandran

Date: November 2nd 2016

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

CHAKSU, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Days before she was married 18 years ago, K. Bina Devi and her sister were called to the living room of the family home where they lived with their parents and four brothers.

By: Annie Gowen

Date: September 29th 2016

Source: The Washington Post

INDIA’S DIVIDE | This is part of a series about oppression and violence against women in India as a rising generation collides with old social mores.

By: Holly Miller

Date: September 16th 2016

Source: Women's Agenda

By: Rina Chandran

Date: September 2nd 2016

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Women in parts of conflict-hit central and eastern India are more vulnerable to violence and eviction from their land because a decades-long insurgency has made it harder for them to claim equal land rights, according to a new study.

By: Betty Mutesi (International Alert)

Date: August 23rd 2016

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

Rwanda's women have equal rights in law. But the government and regular Rwandans must confront the country's systems of discrimination

In rural Rwanda, as in most developing countries, owning and controlling land determines whether you are rich or poor. In a country where some 57% of the population live below the poverty line, land is a prime resource.

By: Kinshu Dang
Date: August 5th 2016
Source: NDTV Every Life Counts

By: Ogechi Ekeanyanwu
Date: May 7th 2016
Source: Development Cable

A lot of widows in 35 countries, including Nigeria, do not have equal land inheritance rights.

In March, the gender equality bill, a bill to ensure gender parity, equal economic opportunities, and equality in marriage especially in terms of inheritance and land rights, was rejected by the senate.

By: Anne Kidmose Jensen

Date: April 19th 2016

Source: AllAfrica.com / The Citizen

Dar es Salaam — Human Rights Watch has urged the government to 'immediately' amend provisions of the inheritance law, saying it violates the rights of women.

Under the existing laws, women are often left with nothing when their husbands die and coerced to leave their land, which is against international agreements on women's rights.