A path shared for 27 years - IFAD

WOMEN AND MEN AND LAND
Although people living in villages across
Africa may do things differently, there are
also certain things that don’t change much
regardless of where you are. This is especially
true of control of the land itself. In the past
women only got land through men. They were
in the background. But when people realize
that women have been missing out on a lot of
things, relations between women and men start
changing – sometimes faster than you might
think! Relations between men and women were
not so different in many other countries about
50 years ago, when gender and women’s rights
became major political issues. That’s pretty
reassuring,because it shows that people are not
so different, that in time things change and that
African women can get more control over their
own lives.
“Women who belong to UWESO look and act different, we have more
knowledge and we are used to dealing with the outside world. Other
women tease us by saying we’ve become like first ladies. I’m 52 years old
and have had eleven children. Do I look like a first lady?”
Woman member of UWESO in Kasansara, Uganda
“Women-only activities aren’t a good thing. Men can’t
be totally excluded if we want them to understand and
support changes that concern women. Working with
men is important but it’s necessary to work with the
reliable ones.”
Woman in Masindi district, speaking to Alice Carloni, consultant, Uganda
“Traditionally, women had only small spaces they could call their own
and even those could be taken over by the men who owned both
the land women cultivated and the houses they lived in. The small
businesses financed by loans to women created a new kind of space
for them. They perceive it as being their own and it is recognized
as such by others. When the new space is completely separate from the
traditional land-based space, women’s independence is particularly
strong. Self-employment has given women in Kenya and Uganda full
control of the proceeds.”
Dev Nathan, consultant, on impact of UWESO and KWFT, Kenya and Uganda
We used to have to hold out our hands for money every morning or go
down on our knees to beg for it. If we sold some vegetables at the market,
we had to spend it right away. If we went home with any cash, our
husbands could take it from us.
Women speaking to Dev Nathan in Kenya and Uganda
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A farmer on his land, Niger.
©IFAD/D. Rose