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Access to land

The new Land Act prohibits granting of freehold to a person but allows those that are already holding such land titles to continue. The Office of Commissioner of Lands administers and manages land issues such as making grants, leases and other dispositions.

Although women comprise about 70 percent of Malawi’s agricultural workforce, many lack access to land and other resources, according to U.N. Women. Data on women’s land ownership is scarce but a 2015 report by the U.S. Agency for International Development found that women owned only 17 percent of documented land in Malawi. Although far from equal, national statistics show that relatively more women own land in Malawi than in most other countries in sub-Sahara Africa (Oxfam 2018)

Malawian women struggle for land rights despite equality drive. Most times when the husband passes away, the woman is not given land rights because cultural norms dictate that widowed or abandoned women cannot own land, even if they have a legal claim to it. Most times, the widows are subjected to a widow-cleansing ceremony, which formally releases the widow from the dead husband’s family. This inequality, the study pointed out, exposes women to all manner of rights abuses.

Malawi’s   new   land   bill   for   improved   tenure   security   came   into   force   in   March   2018.   They   establish   better   ways   of   administrating   customary   land   and   define   new   processes, rights and obligations of citizens and duty bearers. The new bill states that customary land  can  be  registered  and  also  provide  equal access and control over land for both women and women.

If we want to empower women, we must start with this fundamental inequity of land ownership. The right to own land is a key necessity to fully integrate women into a nation’s economy. A woman who registers her land is food secure, gets income and becomes self-reliant and resilient. Mostly women living in poverty live off the land. Land to them is a home, survival, an income, a chance to feed and clothe and house and educate their children. Land is also a chance for entrepreneurship.”