WOMEN LAND RIGHTS
ABOUT 80% OF FARM WORK ACROSS INDIA IS UNDERTAKEN BY WOMEN. HOWEVER, ONLY AROUND 13% OF FARM/FOREST LAND HAS BEEN ALLOCATED TO WOMEN DESPITE OF THE POLICIES AND REGULATIONS SET IN THE SYSTEM TO PROVIDE THEM OWNERSHIP RIGHTS.
The Women Land Rights programme (WLR) aims to be a powerful mechanism to address gender inequality and economic empowerment of women in India. The programme will develop locally sustainable models that can be adapted and scaled across India.
When women have access to land, it drives a series of progressive change and impacts the entire eco-system at large.
WHAT PREVENTS RURAL WOMEN FROM HAVING ACCESS TO LAND?
– Gender Bias: Conventional gender-biased roles and practices, gendered norms, perceived role of women and ability of a women to handle ‘land’ matters and make it productive.
– Low Awareness: Limited access to resources and knowledge relating to owning, accessing and inheriting land. Limited or no control over land, post ownership and access to income generated from it.
– Disorganised Market: Lack of documentation, land records, guidelines and regulations and their implementation. Limited data and information on the size of the problem and the gaps in the system, resulting in unregulated biased actions.
– Legal / Systemic Complexities: Multiple layers of laws based on religion, marital status, kind of land, and types of ownership. Limited awareness amongst government officials, legal system-lack of gender focus.
OUR APPROACH
Our approach is to look at ‘LAND as a pathway to solution’, to issues that women face and it’s impact ranging from ‘an asset to ensure financial security’, ‘livelihoods for women’, higher food security to better forest management.
OUR OBJECTIVE
Increase the number of rural marginalized women owning land in India and establish Women Land Rights as a powerful mechanism to address Gender Equality and economic empowerment of women. And to help develop sustainable WLR models amongst local Non-profit organisations.
Increase Women Land Ownership
Increase long term land access to secure livelihoods for women
Increase Land literacy amongst women
Enhance Grassroot NGOs capacities to deliver successful WLRs programs
Spotlight Women Land Right’s amongst funders and other stakeholders
OUR AIM
We aim to impact 50,000 women and to build capacity in organisations. In the current phase of the program, we aim to target ‘multiple marginalised’ women – Vulnerable women within marginalised communities who struggle to access land – Widows & Women Farmers , Marginalised Single Women, Women struggling to access Inheritance, Tribal women, Women facing violence, Women from Scheduled Castes and Tribes, Landless Women.
We will do this by supporting 4-6 non-profit organisations for strengthening, adapting, adopting, franchising and scaling their models. In parallel, we will create an eco-system which provides support to aspects like social behavior change, legal services, funding and research.
OUR COMMITMENT
– Work along multiple pathways for women to access land – Inheritance, Forest Lands, Farms
– Impact 50,000+ women to own, access and be aware of their land rights
– Give voice to impacted women
– Drive Normative Change
– Build and enhance local sustainable intervention models in WLRs
– Increase awareness and funding
5 EMPOWERMENT MILESTONES
We have identified 5 “Empowerment Milestones” that contribute to make the women feel strong and independent. Our program will work with women with the aim to help them collect ALL 5. We will work with women who have either none or a few of these already in place.
To know more about our work or if you are interested in joining us, write to shivani@womanity.org or melissa@womanity.org
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