EVWA Council Policy Paper 1: Enhancing Access to Land For Women Smallholder Farmers

laws and regulations are not outright
discriminatory, but rather ‘gender blind’: they
do not acknowledge existing gender gaps and
therefore perpetuate them, or at least do not
help close them. And other countries still have
excellent gender-responsive laws and
regulations governing land ownership but
have not managed to implement these
effectively, sometimes due to the existence of
a parallel system of discriminatory customary
laws and traditions.
The EVWA Council calls upon governments to
eliminate discriminatory laws and to identify
and amend gender-blind laws, policies, and
programs; conducting a gender audit similar to
the one undertaken by the Kenyan Ministry of
Energy would be a good start.1 The Council
also calls upon governments and donors to
make available the resources to enhance the
implementation of existing gender-responsive
laws. This can be achieved through awareness
raising at all levels and among all relevant
stakeholders, and by strengthening the
capacity of the relevant government agencies
and civil society organizations.
seedling 4: empower existing local
women’s groups and civil society
organizations to liaise between
women farmers and policymakers
Even when women farmers are aware of their
legal rights to land, they often do not manage
to claim them. This can be because they lack
support in the community, or simply because
they do not have the time. In a wellfunctioning
system, women farmers should
not also need to be activists or need to
individually overcome pushback from their
communities to access the support they are
due. Thankfully, throughout Africa, local
women’s groups and civil society organizations
do excellent work as facilitators, organizing and
supporting women farmers to close gender
gaps. The EVWA Council calls upon
1
https://energia.org/assets/2023/03/Gender-and-
Energy-Policy-Brief-INTERACTIVE.pdf
governments and their partners to build on
these existing structures to advance women
farmers’ access to land.
Firstly, governments should ensure that
women farmers always have a seat at the table
when land issues are discussed, at any level of
government (local, regional, national, and
international); this may require the
establishment of task forces that women’s
groups are part of. Such task forces, which
should also include all agencies relevant to
land issues (agriculture, trade, food security,
water resources, environment, etc), will also
support more effective integrated land use and
resource planning.
Secondly, local women’s groups and civil
society organizations should be supported to
assist their constituents in their communities:
by raising local awareness of the benefits of
closing gender gaps in agriculture, as well as
by helping women to claim their rights,
informing them of policy changes and helping
them to access resources.
seedling 5: include men as agents
of change
In discussions about gender equality, men
often express that they would like to be better
allies but are not sure whether it is appropriate
for them to insert themselves into the
conversation, or simply do not know where to
start. However, the support of men at all levels
is crucial for closing gender gaps. The EVWA
Council calls on governments and their
partners to actively involve men in their efforts,
stressing that given the potential benefits to
society as a whole, advancing gender equality
should not be viewed as a women’s issue.
Ways to facilitate more effective allyship
include equipping men and women in
relevant positions with the facts and
arguments they need to advocate for gender
equality; raising awareness of the results of
gender audits so people can more readily
recognize and change practices that
perpetuate inequalities; and appointing men
as ‘gender equality champions’.
3