Gender inequality of high income households in Uganda: Exploring women's rights to land and property at the household level

Abstract

This paper explores how women of high income households in Uganda are deprived of control over productive resources like land and property at the household level, keeping them in a subordinate position. This not only deprives them of power but also leads them into poverty in a process referred to as the 'feminization of poverty'. Upon divorce or separation, women have to suddenly develop survival mechanisms after spending years in a subordinate economic role within the household. Inequity in land and property ownership rights not only intersects with patriarchal cultural attitudes and beliefs but also with a patriarchal legal framework to create obstacles to women's empowerment. The findings in this paper revealed the cases well-educated woman contributed to the purchase of land and property, but she had no legal claim to the property. Another woman did not use their financial contribution for the acquisition of land and property, as leverage with her husband to ensure that his name was included on titles and deeds, she ended up retaining only use rights. In these cases the husband registered the property solely in his own name. The main contribution of this paper is to understand the complex dynamics of land and property ownership rights at the household level. This paper added to the existing knowledge on gender inequality of land rights in sub-Saharan Africa and in developing countries.