Gender and tenure security in Gusiiland, Kenya: Improving household welfare through land rights

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of securing women’s land rights in improving household welfare in Gusiiland (Kenya). Land in Gusiiland is a social asset acquired through patrilineal descent. It is a means of production and primary source of income for the majority of the population. Although the 2010 constitution accords women full land ownership rights, a complex set of customary institutions and established practices typically restricts them to usufruct land rights. Using a Feminist Political Ecology (FPE) framework, this paper argues that for Gusiiland, the realization of key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular gender equality (5), poverty and hunger reduction (1 and 2) and peace and justice (16) depends on securing land rights which is crucial for supporting women’s key role in household subsistence and gender equality broadly speaking. To this end, structural discrimination of women has to be fought in the areas of education and land governance, with the aim of implementing existing rights through improved institutional mechanisms.