Article Index
5. Gender Aspects in Relation to Land Governance
The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda of 1995, embodies far-reaching policy and legal reforms aimed at securing women’s land rights, advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. First and foremost where the principles of non-discrimination, gender equality and women’s empowerment enshrined in the policy and legal frameworks. Article 21: all persons are equal before the law in all spheres of political economic, social and cultural life and in every other aspect and shall enjoy equal protection of the law. Article 31 (1) of the Constitution entitles women and men to equal rights during and after marriage including the acquisition of property which may be land during marriage. Article 32 of the Constitution provides for affirmative action in favor of groups marginalized on the basis of gender or any other reason created by history, tradition or custom. Article 33(4) states that the state shall provide facilities and opportunities necessary to enhance the welfare of women to enable them realize their full potential and advancement.
The land Act Cap 227 provides for mandatory representation of women on land tenure governance institutions as follows: the Uganda Land Commission must have at least one female member out of 5 members, the District Land Boards must comprise of one third of their membership as women, the area Land Committees must have at least one third of the membership as women (out of 5) members and Communal Land Management Associations to have at least one third female members.
The Uganda National Land Policy 2013 has among its core principles, “Equity and justice in access to land irrespective of gender, age, disability or any other reason created by history, tradition or custom”. NLP stresses the importance of considering socially and culturally acceptable tenure relations as a means of expanding opportunity for rights for women and other vulnerable groups. All the above is in place to provide a system of equal opportunity in terms of both land ownership and governance asmong men and women in Uganda.