THE KEY TO EMPOWERING RURAL WOMEN

UNITED NATIONS, March 2 (IPS) - What gets measured gets done, a powerful message delivered by Elise Scalise, attorney and director for the Landesa Center for Women's Land Rights, during the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) held at the United Nations.
Along with the OECD Development Centre, Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Government of Kenya teamed up with Wikigender to provide a hearty panel discussion entitled "Equal Rights to Resources: The Key to Empowering Rural Women," bringing to light an issue they feel is long overdue and necessary for women's rights, leverage and longevity.

"Owning land can open access to markets and improve social status," the CSW summary report indicated. "It can be used as collateral to access other resources, such as bank loans or resources required for food production." They cited land ownership as a way to have bargaining power and ensure greater investments in children's education and nutrition.

They addressed the impediments of discriminatory social institutions, such as stigmas on education and political involvement, and the need for rural women to have access to resources and the decision-making process; now limited mainly to men and husbands. Organizers believe that empowering women will increase agricultural production, after citing a study where cereal yields went up 60 percent in regions where women had equal access to land as opposed to a neighboring six percent where the status quo was in place.

Their focus was on legal empowerment, with distinct aims at rights enablement, enhancement, awareness and enforcement. A strong push was put on engaging young men and boys to change a generation of attitudes towards women. "By degrading women, you're degrading humanity," said Teresa Barasa from the Kenyan delegation. "They bring life," adding a heavy emphasis for women's need for access to justice.

In western Africa, women are more likely to own land or have some stake in it. In eastern regions, women can only own land through relatives or their husband but even then, the restrictions are so high, tangled and complicated. Emily Sikazwe, executive director at Women For Change, spoke on this issue and the need for radical progressive change but by their own will.

"Africans don't want to be told what to do," said Sikazwe, who hails from Zambia, boasting a population of nearly 13 million. She cited years of pushed around, and wants change to come at a roots level to ensure a long-term difference as a nation not a charity case. They applauded the efforts of Liberian lawmakers who put into place a system that allots women one-third interest in their husband's land stake. Minimal yes, but progress, noted a Finnish spokeswoman.

Wikigender is an online resource data base that maintains 1476 editors holding up to 1392 articles on all areas pertaining to gender topics. They hope to open the discussion by cataloguing past and present information on the subject. (END/2012)