New Woman Foundation

Equitable and sustainable access to, use of and control over economic resources is integral to rural people’s effectively ensuring their livelihood, well-being and human security as human needs and, therefore, human rights and a life with dignity, free from fear, poverty and humiliation. However, secure tenure of agricultural land is out of reach for many women in their half the world, regardless of their education level or social and economic status. They often do not enjoy possession of agricultural land they work on, or the freedom to dispose of it. Gender inequality is often rooted in cultural norms that permit, engender and exacerbate patterns of material discrimination against women within the family and in economic transactions.

Rural women in North Africa, who make up nearly 45% of the agricultural workforce, rely on secure land rights for food and economic security. Yet, they represent only 5% of landowners in the region, despite their significant contributions to agricultural labor, most of which is unpaid. Given that inheritance is the primary means of land ownership, discriminatory practices significantly impede women’s equitable and sustainable land tenure. In Egypt, women own only 2–5% of agricultural land.

In commemoration of International Day of Rural Women and in the context of its Women and Economic Rights Program, Egypt’s New Woman Foundation cooperated with Housing and Land Rights Network - Habitat International Coalition (HIC-HLRN) to organize a capacity-development workshop at New Woman Foundation, 14–15 September 2024, on “Women’s Land Rights and International Mechanisms to Defend Them,” presented by HIC-HLRN coordinator Joseph Schechla with the participation of 19 representatives of small farmers’ unions in the governorates of al-Minya, Beheira and Beni Suef, researchers, journalists and representatives of local civil society organizations (CSOs).

Joseph provided an overview of the structure of the Human Rights System within the three main axes of the UN: human rights - sustainable development – peace and security. He shared expertise in the workings of the relevant treaty bodies and their role at reviewing states’ periodic reports, their methods of work, and the mechanisms and opportunities available for CSOs to engage in local community issues and design advocacy campaigns and network in the international sphere. Participants learned how to benefit from the tools and mechanisms provided by the United Nations System and periodic reports on international voluntary commitments and binding obligations.

The workshop unpacked such normative concepts as the economic, social and environmental function of land and rights related to the continuum of housing and land rights under international agreements. Joseph shared examples and methods to apply legal standards developed in application of the UN Treaty System such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDaW), especially General Recommendation No. 34 (2016) on the rights of rural women. In the Development System, the HIC-HLRN coordinator presented the relevant commitments of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, as well as the link between human rights obligations and the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All these binding obligations and voluntary commitments support women’s right equal to men to access, use and control land and economic resources. That universal principle applies to women’s right to inheritance, including the SDG5 on gender equality and SDG 11: Safe and sustainable cities and settlements.

Joseph also provided guidance to understand the New Urban Agenda, by which states commit to realize the social function of land and guarantee secure tenure for all, especially women, including to recognize and legally protect multiple forms of tenure such as: customary tenure, collectivization, temporary ownership, usufruct, prospective ownership, officially recognized rent and ownership, as well as another legitimate forms of tenure that are not officially recognized.

The discussion spanned the various forms of land holdings in Egypt, including sale and access, validity of signature, ownership, possession without land and ‘possession of poultry or livestock.’

The farming unionists shared the problems that women in the countryside face toward owning or disposing of economic resources, agrarian reform laws and expropriation laws. They specified that 95% of holdings in Egypt are not registered and that customary norms in the countryside and villages are stronger than the law. However, they also do not do justice to women`s rights to land. Egyptians face an urgent need to ensure secure land tenure that enables women to realize their rights to land; i.e., equitable and sustainable access to, use of and control over land.

The discussions also explored the impact of climate change on women, especially in the countryside, whether measured by the quality and quantity of crops in cultivated areas, or by the percentage of women to manage resources needed for their family`s livelihood. Participants also discussed the HIC-HLRN tools to monitor climate finance and the resulting debt by country in the Middle East/North Africa region. Participants also discussed the impact of global agribusiness that produces food for sale without meeting the food sovereignty and nutritional needs of developing countries.

The most prominent recommendations of the working groups for CSO action were to:

• Contributing to reports of the Special Rapporteur on Climate Change, the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women toward improving the conditions of rural women and agricultural workers, in particular;
• Networking with international organizations with UN consultative status focusing on women’s land rights in light of climate change;
• Form an alliance among civil society institutions and organizations that works to enhance women`s land ownership and address social practices that deprive women of the right to inherit land;
• Participate in relevant national, regional, and international events to raise issues of land rights as priority issues, including:
o World Urban Forum in Cairo in November 2024;
o Climate Summit in Azerbaijan in November 2024;
o Universal Periodic Review of Egypt in January 2025;
o Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March 2025, which devotes its topic this year to discussing 30 years since Beijing.