[ad_1]
Elizabeth Maro Minde is the Executive Director of the Kilimanjaro Women Organization, a community-based women's information-sharing organization in Tanzania, a beneficiary of the United Nations Fund for the Advancement of Women for Gender Equality. Minde and her organization provide legal advice and representation to marginalized women in rural communities. She spoke at UN Women at the 63rd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women on the issue of land rights.
"I work in Moshi, in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. It is a very patriarchal society, it does not consider women as human beings equal to men. Because men are the makers, they even decide on fundamental things in a woman's life, for example, when and how many children they can have, or if they can get out of the house .
When a man dies, the woman does not know what she belongs to. The earth belongs to men; women belong to men. Nobody realizes that women also have the right to land.
In 1999, a law on land policy was adopted, which guarantees equal ownership of land. But when the law was passed, all land was already owned by men, and then there was a customary right to protect people.
I help women in the case of land and real estate inheritance. We start by making women aware that they are human, that they are equal to men.
The Gender Fund Program was a very good intervention because it focused on women's economic empowerment. We wanted economic empowerment for the protection of women's rights because women are the poorest and this increases their vulnerability. The women got together and received money that they could invest and save. They realized that with small savings, you can do a lot when you are together. We have many models in the program, some have assumed leadership positions in village councils. "
Source link
