In Uganda, women face severe inequalities in land ownership and control.
Despite making up 77 per cent of the agricultural labor force, only 6 per cent of women own land individually. While women make up 51 per cent of the population, just 24 per cent of female adults own land, compared to 36.7 per cent of male adults (UBOS 2024).
This disparity leaves women vulnerable, especially during relationship breakdowns or the death of a spouse. For many women, land represents more than just economic capital; it is a form of social security. However, their connection to it remains fragile.
Widows, in particular, face some of the harshest challenges. In many communities, cultural beliefs overshadow legal protections, allowing deceased husbands’ relatives to seize property under the guise of preserving lineage or “protecting the family estate.”
A case handled by the Women’s Probono Initiative earlier this year illustrates these injustices. Rita (not real name), a legally married woman, had lived in her matrimonial home with her husband for over 20 years.
Following the husband’s sudden death, his relatives swiftly took possession of the land titles and agreements. They moved children from the extended family into the home and compelled Rita to care for them, exploiting her limited resources and deliberately creating an untenable living situation.
This pressure eventually forced her to leave the home she had helped establish. Rita’s experience reflects the struggles of many widows in Uganda. Though the law grants surviving spouses priority in estate administration, relatives often delay or block property access through procedural challenges.
Letters of administration become battlegrounds where widows must not only fight for their rights but also for their survival. Land-related injustices also begin long before widowhood. Within marriages, women perform vast but undervalued labor, such as childcare, farming, and domestic work.
These contributions significantly enhance family wealth, yet they remain largely invisible in legal property regimes, which often overlook unpaid care work. Leaving women vulnerable when relationships deteriorate.
Cohabiting women face even greater vulnerability, as their unions lack legal cover and recognition. This often results in abrupt displacement after a conflict, leaving them often homeless without rights to property despite their contributions.
Even when women invest labor, money, or time, their contributions rarely translate into enforceable land rights. In instances of default, women and children bear the biggest brunt, facing displacement.
These realities highlight the gap between Uganda’s legal frameworks and the lived experiences of women. While Article 21 of the 1995 Constitution guarantees equality, it is clear that discriminatory norms, weak enforcement, and economic power imbalances continue to deny women meaningful access to land.
Women’s land rights are further undermined by both prohibitive legal costs and fragmented institutional authority. Land disputes fall under multiple state actors, including Local Council courts, the Police Land Protection Unit, RDCs, the State House Land Protection Unit, and the judiciary, whose overlapping jurisdictions frequently produce conflicting decisions, prolong disputes, and weaken effective remedies.
For Uganda to achieve genuine land justice, women’s rights to own, inherit, and control property must be prioritised. First, men should be encouraged to register their spouses on land titles to protect families after death.
Second, institutions should be deliberate at enforcing the existing laws especially on testacy. Widows are given priority in law and that needs institutional backing.
Finally, women must be empowered to understand their legal rights at all times whether in marriage, upon its dissolution or during cohabitation. Until women can claim land without fear of eviction, violence, or cultural backlash, equality will remain a distant echo.
The author is a human rights lawyer.