70% of land worldwide is not legally documented and in Africa. Terms of agreement on land sales and ownership rights are very complicated, often leaving inheritances mismanaged especially for the women whose husbands leave these properties for.
My grandma was the first wife of my grandfather who I have been told had a lot of property, he left a particular piece of land for my grandmother but she has in the last 20 years fought to keep that piece of land.
A land is a basic source of livelihood as it provides employment, it is the key agricultural input and it is a major
determinant of women farmers’ access to other productive resources and services. Securing land and poverty rights for people especially in rural areas will help advance poverty alleviation.
In 2016, a gender equality bill was proposed in Nigeria, it was to enable women to have equal rights with men in marriages, divorce, property ownership, and inheritance was not passed and revised to a second bill, which now only seeks to address discrimination against women and protect them from violence and sexual abuse.
The first bill was thrown out because it was said to un-African and anti-religious.
For my grandmother and many other widows in Africa, land rights are they difficult thing to fight especially when culture and the political environment is unable to help. Women in Africa contribute 70% of food production. They also account for nearly half of all farm labor, and 80–90% of food processing, storage, and transport, as well as hoeing and weeding. Yet women often lack rights to land. My grandmother in her age will still have to retell a story of how the land belongs to her and why her farmland is important to her.
Why this is even more worrisome for me is the fact that this land is on the edge being snatched away for a new home or commercial center leaving people whose livelihood depended on this land to suffer.
Women like my grandmother and other young widows need their basic rights to be entrenched in constitutions and for equal rights of property ownership to be clearly stipulated in the law. There has to be a communication between interacting institutions to support women who are oppressed; and then we need more women in the policymaking table because if we are not on the table, we might as well be said to be on the menu.