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.