Women's Gender Rights, Inequalities, and Properties Must be fought for; Museveni.

Women's Gender Rights, Inequalities, and Properties Must be fought for; Museveni.

on several interventions to address issues relating to gender inequality, with regard to property rights and land ownership.

The National Gender Policy (2007) identifies that there are significant gender inequalities with regard to property rights with women owning only 20% of all registered land in the country with the majority having only user rights and these are usually determined by their relationship with a man either a father or husband.

Additionally, there exists a wide gender gap in relation to ownership, access and decision-making power over land more evidently in rural areas. Uganda’s land laws however, do not expressly discriminate between men and women regarding the right to own land and property. But, women in Uganda are still generally unable to register their land due to the vicious cycle of poverty and entrenched gender inequality, which affects their productivity and increased food insecurity as women are the primary users of the land providing the bulk of “non-contractible” agricultural labor.

To fight the vice, President Museveni has said the government is encouraging the grassroots women, youth, and vulnerable populations to register their land rights. The 1998 Land Act and 2004 Land Regulations' provisions for Certificates of Customary Ownership (CCOs) for women have been made possible by the promotion of gender-sensitive land tools that are pro-poor.

Implementation of the CCO issuance process has been carried out Kasese, Pader, Butaleja, Mbale, Kisoro, Kabale, Nwoya, Adjumani, Soroti, Katakwi, Namutumba, Terego, Dokolo, Amolatar, Apac, Agago and Maracha.

Since 2015, over 72,000 CCOs have been issued so far and land registered. However, many women and communities remain ignorant of the legal regime of women’s land rights and therefore continue to be denied their land rights.

Government has also vowed to continue investing in the registration of women’s land rights in order to economically empower them, leading to food security and improved livelihoods.

Some of the other benefits to women include reduced incidences of land disputes. There is security of ownership which in turn stimulates land development. The costs of delays during land transfers are minimized as the recording system makes transfers easier, less expensive and more secure.

Land certificates are also used as collateral for loans and by the Government to generate revenue when they record any subsequent transactions on these Certificates. There is also improved land use and management as information on land ownership and rights for physical planning facilitate the development of other planning tools such as information on land use, land values and population.

Uganda has four major land tenure systems – Mailo, freehold, leasehold and customary with Mailo and customary tenure having the most scenarios where women’s land rights suffer the most impediments.

Customary tenure system accounts for almost 80% of land in Uganda and is governed by the customs and traditions of that particular society where a particular piece of land exists.

It is also largely unregistered and is associated with a number of problems including (a) its inability to provide security of tenure for landowners because it is largely unregistered; and (b) it impedes the advancement of land markets.