Only one per cent of land globally is owned by indigenous women.
This is according to the global land advocacy group Stand For Her Land.
The campaign works to empower women the world over to not only be landowners but to also be equipped with education over their land rights.
The African Chapter of the campaign was officially launched on March 8 and made its debut in Nairobi.
Esther Mwaura-Muriu, Global Advocacy Director for Stand For Her Land, said that the campaign will help grassroots women get their power back.
"Less than one per cent of land globally is owned by grassroots women yet, they are the majority of those who till the land and ensure there is food security. We aim at fighting for those women," she said.
She said that these women play a vital role in mitigating climate change and should be given more space to practice climate action.
"Most of the biodiversity of the world is sustained by indigenous communities. They should own a stake in the land they work on," she said.
Wycliffe Kombo, a Chief from Kakamega, said that women at the grassroots are really suffering because of land injustices.
"Women in my community are disinherited of their matrimonial land after the death of their husbands because culturally, it is believed women should not own land," he said
He added that they experience gender-based violence, threats, and ostracization in the community because of land disputes.
Yaram Fall of Senegal said the same fate befalls women in her country.
"There are women in my community who hire land for subsistence farming from their own brothers and husbands because they are not allowed to own land," she said.
