15 June 2023
Women hold a vital stake in the health of the land. Their hands have shaped and nurtured life on our planet. Yet, their contribution to the health of the land is often uncompensated, and they commonly lack access to and control over the very land they cultivate.
Around the world, land is being degraded daily through a brutal combination of drought and desertification, putting food production and the life of those who live off the land in jeopardy. Unsustainable farming methods are eroding soil 100 times faster than natural process can restore it, and up to 40 per cent of our planet’s land is now degraded.
These conditions present a huge challenge, and yet we already know one of the key solutions: women.
When given the chance, women are incredible stewards of our land. They are effective at using their extensive knowledge and skills to protect land, restore degraded land and help build resilience to droughts, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change.
Yet women, who are powerful agents of change, are denied the chance to make such contributions. Owing to discriminatory practices, such as inadequate land tenure, lack of credit, unequal pay and low levels of decision-making, as well as the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence, women’s participation in land management is often blocked.
From Africa and Asia to Latin America, we witness women and girls suffering when they are excluded from land allocations. Today, less than one in five landholders worldwide are women, despite comprising nearly half of the world's agricultural workforce and producing up to 80 per cent of food in developing countries.
And when women are widowed, they often suffer evictions from in-laws and are left with nowhere to go and, perhaps more importantly, no land from which they can generate income to feed their children. Women’s rights to inherit their husbands’ property continue to be denied in more than 100 countries.
But why does this matter? Given that rural women make up 43 per cent of agricultural workers, the effects of land degradation are disproportionately harsh for them. They suffer from the lack of food, water scarcity and forced migration resulting from degradation.
Such conditions feed a broader pattern of global gender inequality and its expression through violence and discrimination against women and girls. This is particularly true for Indigenous women and girls, persons with disabilities and female human rights defenders due to multiple and intersectional discrimination.
Ensuring women and girls' equal enjoyment of all human rights and participation in decision-making on land is the key to achieving land degradation neutrality. Furthermore, everyone benefits: women themselves, their families and the rest of society.
For example, ensuring women’s and girls’ rights has a profound knock-on effect for household income, food security, investment in children's education, health and welfare, and it reduces gender-based violence. In parts of the world where women cannot own land, their children are often kept out of school due to the lack of a decent family income that would allow them to afford tuition. Yet evidence shows that where women’s property and inheritance rights are stronger, children are up to one-third less likely to be severely underweight.
Hope ahead
There are many positive examples from around the world of women who are standing up for their rights and their role in land management.
Sierra Leone recently passed a landmark law to complement the Customary Land Rights Act, putting an end to six decades of customary laws that prevented women from owning land. Sierra Leonean women are now allowed the same rights as men to own, lease or buy land in the country. In fact, the law means that women can become local village leaders, called “paramount chiefs”; at least 30 per cent representation by women is required in public and private office; and anyone who discriminates against women in the provision of land can face a fine or jail term.
In Tanzania, where more than 80 per cent of women are engaging in agricultural activities, women who have been given stronger land rights are earning up to 3.8 times more income and are more likely to have individual savings. This highlights another, often overlooked benefit of enhancing women’s land rights: greater economic security and opportunities for women and girls.
Recognizing women's land rights will expedite restoration by also opening doors to markets, finance, training, gender-transformative technologies and other essential services. Women invest more in technological inputs that can result in higher yields. In fact, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimated that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, the number of hungry people in the world could be reduced by up to 17 per cent—a staggering 150 million people.
When given the right opportunities, women can also tap into traditional knowledge and find innovative solutions to address desertification, land degradation and drought.
When given the right opportunities, women can also tap into traditional knowledge and find innovative solutions to address desertification, land degradation and drought. We see the benefits of this in countries such as Jordan, where a women-run plant nursery has been using state-of-the-art gender-friendly methodologies and protocols to produce high-quality native seedlings for land restoration.
I was impressed by the case of Ms. Mangala, a woman farmer from India. Thanks to subsidies awarded by the forest department in her country, she was able to invest in tree-based agriculture and thus dramatically improved the soil quality on her 18-acre farm. This shows how much increasing women’s access to productive and financial resources in tandem can help empower them but can also help feed entire communities.
Advancing women’s land rights: a joint effort
Women are strong agents of change. Gender equality must be incorporated into all matters connected to land issues: drought, land degradation and desertification.
We all have a role to play in making this a reality. This World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, governments must immediately eliminate legal barriers to women and girls’ ownership or inheritance of land. More broadly, women must have the opportunity to participate in decisions concerning land management, conservation and restoration. Countries with more women parliamentarians prioritize women and girls’ role in land protection, and are more likely to ratify relevant treaties and set aside land for conservation. Unfortunately, data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) indicates that only 12 per cent of the 881 national environment-related ministries run by elected officials are led by women.
The stark gap between the women who are most adversely affected by the consequences of drought, land degradation and desertification, and those who control the resources and have the power to make decisions that will affect them, needs to be addressed urgently.
The private sector also has a critical role to play. By offering easier access to credit, private financial institutions can help women afford the technology and inputs they need to improve yields, keep soil fertile and guard against land degradation.
Last but not least, communities must take ownership of the issue. Various initiatives are leading the charge to promote dialogue with authorities and push for land reforms, putting affected women front and centre. A campaign in Chad mobilized more than 25,000 rural women in seven provinces, helping them speak with one voice and be heard by authorities, leading to 300 hectares of land being allocated to 18 women's groups.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has placed gender equality at the core of its mandate, and for good reason. Its Gender Action Plan acknowledges the pivotal role of women in sustainable land management. By adopting the plan, parties to the Convention acknowledged the importance of gender equality as a guiding principle in all policies and decisions regarding action to combat desertification, land degradation and drought. We hope for the continued implementation of this plan, which serves as a vital catalyst for progress in achieving gender equality while sustaining our land, food and climate.
Solving gender inequalities is not just the right thing to do. If we ensure women and girls' rights, and fully enable women to use their abilities, knowledge, talents and leadership potential, our societies will be simply better off. We must all work together to create an equitable future where women can actively participate in and contribute to global land restoration efforts, boost resilience to drought and foster thriving communities. Our precious land depends on it.
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