Kenya: New Constitution promises unprecedented rights for women | GlobalPost

14.4.12

Kenya: Constitution promises | GlobalPost: For example, under the customary law of most ethnic groups, rarely can a woman inherit land from her father or be the sole administrator of her husband’s estate (unless she has her children’s consent), and she usually can only continue to live on the land as a guest of male relatives. Likewise, across rural Kenya girls are routinely pulled out of school and married off at an early age, their bride price sometimes paying for their brothers’ school fees.

The impact of this gap between the new Constitution and age-old practice can be seen in any rural village across Kenya today. Women almost universally have less education than men. They spend their days working the land; according to the FAO, Kenyan women perform 49 percent of the agricultural labor. But rarely do women hold secure rights to the land they till.