INTERNATIONAL DAY OF RURAL WOMEN 15TH OCTOBER 2018 PROGRESS IN ADDRESSING WOMEN LAND RIGHTS - RETRACING THE JOURNEY

THEME: “Sustainable infrastructure, services and social protection for gender
equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”

Time is now to transform rural women’s lives. Rural women make up the majority of Kenya’s agricultural labour force. They ensure food security for their communities and build climate resilience in this time of the challenges of climate change. But their crucial role they play in ensuring the sustainability of rural households and communities, improving rural livelihoods and overall wellbeing, forces us to ask the basic questions flagged by Professor Henry Bernstein in his book on Class Dynamics of Agrarian change, 2010 of: who owns what?, who does what?, who get what?, and what do they do with? As we commemorate 10 years since the first International Day of Rural Women was established on 15th October 2008. We need to ask these right questions in recognition of the substantial proportion of the women’s agricultural labour force, including informal work, and performance of the bulk of unpaid care and domestic work within families and households in rural areas. Women make significant contributions to agricultural production, food security and nutrition, land and natural resource management, yet structural barriers and discriminatory social norms continue to constrain women’s decision-making power and
political participation in rural households and communities. This year marks the second anniversary of the Women to Kilimanjaro Initiative. This initiative culminated in the launch of the Rural Women’s Land Rights charter for Kenya and the Africa wide charter on rural women land rights. It is therefore an appropriate moment to take stock of the progress made so far and what lies ahead.