Women's Access to Land in Tanzania: The Case of the Makete District

Access to land is crucial for combating discrimination. Women who are denied such access tend to be disadvantaged, a pattern that results in economic powerlessness. Tanzana is among the most undeveloped nations in the world, where gender inequalities with respect to accessing land are central problems. This study consequently aims at investigating women's access to land through customary land tenure in the Makete district in Tanzania. A case study strategy was adopted to address the research problem, whereby interviews, focus group discussions and documentary reviews were the main data collection methods. The findings indicate that the majority of women within villages are illiterate; unaware of any existing entitlements and lacking insufficient assets to fight for their rights, and that their involvement in land administration institutions is limited. At the familiy level, daughters and women are deprived of any right to possess land through inheritance because relatives believe they will be married to other families from which they will then gain access to land. This generally has been proven not to be the case. After marriage, women commonly are apportioned land strictly for crop cultivation (usufruct rights). Consequently, there are many challenges in realising women's property rights in Tanzania. These challenges include the dualisim of the property rights system: customary tenure operates alongside statutory tenure; inadequate knowledge about women's property rights by both women and men; negative attitudes towards women's influence, position, capability and reputation; outdated customs; archaic and conflicting interests in laws; and lack of legal capacity (empowerment) as to property rights. The most important tools for meeting these challenges include education and awareness campaigns that are designed to build the capacity of citizens as to the necessity of equity in access to property rights (land) using various legal tools at varying levels. Other measures include amending and repealing outdated laws, including provisons dicriminating against women's property rights and contradicting constitutional provisons and other international instruments. Other avenues are advocacy and working for behavioural chages can also be invoked by empowering individuals at all stages of life, supporting their involvement in productive activities and creating group networks, and facilitating the formation of community-based organisations as well as building capacity