If we want to improve lives and alleviate poverty, achieve food security globally, and guarantee human rights and full dignity for all, we must invest in land rights for women.
COVID-19 and climate change are impacting all of us, but the dual disasters have a disproportionate impact on communities in emerging economies. These impacts are felt most acutely in rural areas, especially among indigenous communities and minority groups, and by women and others who are marginalized within those groups. Land rights were already crucial for food security, identity, and survival; but COVID-19 and climate change make land rights an increasingly vital solution in rural areas.
Both the climate crisis and inequality require a democratic overhaul. Governments globally should start by turning over legal control of land and natural resources to local communities and indigenous land users. Their rights are key to survival for all of us.
On the 2019 International Day of Rural Women, Landesa’s Shipra Deo explores how land rights are an essential element for overturning misperceptions about the role of women in society and on the farm.
By Beth Roberts | Investments in women’s land rights are a prerequisite to full and substantive gender equality that benefits those most in need.
This blog originally appeared on Place. By Diana Fletschner The plight of women has …