Africa: Land for the Women who Farm it

Women do 70 per cent of the agricultural work in Senegal, but according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), own only two percent of the land that may be cultivated. Although property laws in countries such as Senegal, Tunisia and Burkina Faso recognise women' s and men's equal rights, and Islam gives women the right to inherit half what men inherit, in practice men retain land ownership. Women are dependent on fathers or husbands for land. African women held a meeting organised by FAO/Dimitra (rural women and development project of the FAO) and Enda (francophone gender and development network) in Senegal in February 2003 to act upon this issue. This is a difficult task which requires persistence as well as information and education to better negotiate with the family and local authorities.