Tanzania: Protecting Women’s Land Tenure Rights Begins with Women

Aug 8, 2025 | Deodatus Mfugale
IPP Media
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At the age of 70 years, Rehema Mfaume has to face economic and social hardships after her land was taken away by her late husband’s relatives. When their matrimonial life ended in the year 2,000 following her husband’s demise, leaving behind a farm and a house in Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam, where they had lived for years.

“We had papers to prove our ownership of both the farm and the house which we got as far back as 1991. However my husband’s relatives prepared fake documents to show that the farm belonged to someone else and sold it. That was in 2008. They claimed that the documents which we obtained in 1991 were obsolete and were not valid before the law,” explains Rehema Mfaume who now lives on her parent’s farm that she shares with her siblings. “ I have lost the farm; I have lost the house. Both were my only earthly processions. They have done all this because I am a widow, they are men and they have the power. What I have experienced is just a snapshot of what many women have to go through regarding ownership of land and secure tenure,” she adds.

Women's land tenure rights refer to the rights of women to own, control, and access land. In many communities these rights are often unequal to those of men. These rights are important for women's economic empowerment, well-being, and social standing. Bearing in mind that women form the largest group of small producers that feed countries and the world in general, secure land tenure for women can lead to increased agricultural productivity, reduced vulnerability to all forms of land grabbing, and raise their social status within their households and communities. Thus land tenure insecurity, whether due to legal or customary factors, can disproportionately affect women.