In Morogoro, Tanzania, Oxfam held a series of Women’s Land Dialogues – opportunities for rural women to discuss how their land and property rights can be improved.
Women sat on benches under the shade of trees, surrounded by small mud huts with grass roofs. The colourful mix of clothing styles illustrated the diversity of Kwambe village, including small farmers from a number of ethnic groups and pastoralists who are mostly Masai.
“The Women’s Land Dialogues are an opportunity to discuss land issues and to learn,” Zenais Matemu of Oxfam explained. “We can learn from the good examples and from the problems women face with land. Women produce the food, but they produce it on land that they do not have strong rights to.”
Nearly 200 women and men attended the day’s event. Some women shared how they have lost land. After Jenny’s husband passed away, a dam was built on her land. She was not compensated and there were never even any negotiations with her. It happened in 2003 but this was the first time she had shared the story – for years she had kept quiet, but today she was animated and bitter about what had happened.
Would it still have happened if her husband had been alive? “No,” she said, without hesitating. “They would have been afraid of him.”
A young woman challenged the leaders directly, saying, “Women don’t get assistance from the village leaders and government if they do not have money.” The loud cheer from the crowd confirmed that this is a common experience.
Elisabeth told the meeting how land on which she and her husband grazed their livestock had been sold to someone from Dar es Salaam (the Tanzanian capital). The village leaders denied selling the land, but the issue has still not been resolved.
On a more positive note we heard from a man called Shukrani. He explained how he gave his wife, Christina, a substantial piece of land where she grows maize. Christina confirmed that the land is hers. Shukrani’s logic was that Christina works the land and supports the family, and will do so whatever happens in their relationship – so it makes sense for her to control the land.
Similar examples had been shared in the village of Ludewa-Giongo, where another Women’s Land Dialogue was held a few days earlier. In that meeting we also heard from five single women who have done so well at farming that the village authorities allocated land to them.
Later we discussed how to end violence against women. The session revealed that many men and women accept the use of violence against women who are believed to have done something wrong. Some did argue that violence is wrong and communication rather than force is needed to reach agreement, and hopefully by the end of the session more people had come to agree!
There was a lot of singing and a Masai women’s group performed the traditional Masai “jumping dance” – more commonly associated with men. Another group sang a song about women claiming their rights and the ability of women to produce food and, amongst other things, send their children to school.
Juliet from the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association explained the land laws and the procedures for women to assert their rights, emphasising that, “Women should not stay at home when the village is discussing land issues. Tall or short, all women, come and raise your voices.” Closing the event, the (male) Village Chairperson promised that his office will always be open to listen to them.