UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day. It’s a day where we celebrate the contributions of women in Uganda and around the world and recognise the struggle for gender equality and women’s rights.
In Uganda, women face many challenges when it comes to owning and using land. Even though women make up more than half of the population, only 39% of landowners or rights-holders in Uganda are women, as reported by to UBOS in 2022. This is a fundamental problem given how important land is for economic empowerment and livelihood improvement.
There are many reasons why women in Uganda have trouble accessing land rights. Often the laws and policies that are supposed to protect women’s land rights are not enforced properly, or women have limited access to the formal and informal justice systems. This can leave women with no way to fight back when their land rights are violated, especially when they’re forced off their land to make way for big investments.
Land disputes and conflicts can lead to violence against women, and women and girls are often left out of urban planning, design, and housing decisions.
But some amazing women in Uganda are fighting to change all of this. Primah Kwagala, and Theresa Auma Eilu are just three of the women who are leading the fight for women’s land rights in Uganda.
Today, let’s celebrate them and all the other women who are making a difference!
Primah Kwagala
Primah Kwagala is an influential women’s rights activist and lawyer in Uganda who has played a vital role in promoting women’s land rights in the country. As the current Executive Director of the Women’s Probono Initiative (WPI) in Uganda, Kwagala leads a non-profit organisation that uses legal tools to provide justice to women and girls who cannot afford it by leveraging the services of Commercial lawyers.
Kwagala is a strong advocate for women’s land rights, and she has worked tirelessly to empower women to assert their rights in this area. She has brought attention to the issue of gender inequality in land ownership and control in Uganda through her work with the Women’s Probono Initiative and other organisations.
Kwagala has fought to ensure that women have a voice in decisions affecting land ownership and control. Her contributions to the promotion of women’s land rights have had a significant impact in Uganda, inspiring a new generation of young women to fight for gender equality and social justice.
Margaret A. Rugadya
Margaret A. Rugadya is a prominent figure in the global movement towards advancing women’s land rights and promoting gender equity in land ownership and control.
Rugadya is an internationally recognised scholar and expert on land and natural resource governance. As the Africa Region Coordinator/Senior Program Officer at The International Land and Forest Tenure Facility, her work is focused on advancing tenure rights and benefits for women and native communities, with an emphasis on promoting the property rights of women and natural resource-dependent groups such as pastoralists, forest dwellers, indigenous persons, and urban dwellers. Rugadya has made significant contributions to research, advocacy, training, mentorship, and innovation, with a particular focus on advancing socio-economic groups with fragile property rights.
Rugadya’s unwavering commitment to promoting the property rights of women and natural resource-dependent groups has been invaluable in creating a more equitable and just world for all.
Theresa Auma Eilu
Theresa Auma Eilu is a social worker who is a prominent voice for women’s land rights in Uganda. She is currently the Executive Director of the Land and Equity Movement in Uganda (LEMU). Eilu has played a key role in leading communities to demand land justice at the family and community levels.
As an advocate for gender equality in land ownership and control, Eilu has been instrumental in advancing the cause of women’s land rights. During her time leading LEMU’s Community Land Protection Program from 2009 to 2015, she developed legal empowerment strategies to empower communities to guarantee their land rights, especially when justice to land is hard to access.
Through her leadership and advocacy, Eilu has helped to raise awareness of gender inequality in land ownership and control and contributed to securing important policy changes to promote gender equality in this area. At LEMU, she has empowered women and vulnerable communities to assert their rights against discrimination and exclusion.
These are just a few of the women in Uganda who have been at the forefront of the women’s land equity fight. Real Muloodi News would like to celebrate International Women’s Day by celebrating these amazing women!
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