Women's Access to Land in Kenya

This study strongly indicates the lack
of access to land for women in Kenya's agricultural
communities cannot be framed as a failing of formal or
informal systems, but rather as issues with both. Even the
creation of fused or hybrid mechanisms, such as the Land
Control Boards (LCBs) and Land Disputes Tribunals (LDTs),
has not increased access to justice. Underlying power
dynamics and the use of such systems by self-serving
individuals undercut gender equity efforts. The findings
strongly suggest the key to increasing access to justice at
both the community formal and informal levels is to address
power dynamics and understand further how they operate to
the detriment of women. This would be aided if concurrent
formal reform addressed barriers such as overly complicated
procedures and unrealistic costs which further prevent women
from realizing their rights. With land issues currently
receiving a significant amount of attention 2007-8
post-election violence, now is an opportune time to bring
greater attention to the problems and issues regarding
women's access to land in Kenya.