Parallel Event at the 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) | Roots of Empowerment: Land Rights to Rural Women

Date: March 14, 2018, 2:30pm-4:00pm
Location: Church Center of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10027 (Room: Second Floor)

The land tenure rights of rural women and girls often go overlooked, yet securing land tenure rights for rural women and girls is critical to their empowerment, the unlocking of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the achievement of gender equality. This year, the Commission on the Status of Women’s (CSW’s) priority theme gives all participants a chance to stand up for rural women and girls, ensuring that their voices, interests, and valuable contributions are not left behind. In keeping with this priority theme, this Parallel Event aimed to articulate rural women’s land rights—including the land rights of indigenous women—within a set of concrete recommendations for governments, intergovernmental bodies and other institutions, civil society actors and other relevant stakeholders, to be implemented at the international, national, regional and local level. The Parallel Event brought together rural women leaders, land experts, practitioners, and researchers from different regions to explore specific advocacy efforts, research, and other actions that contribute to the realization of women’s and girls’ land tenure rights. Panelists explored the legal recognition, implementation, and enforcement of women’s land tenure rights, and the means by which rural women and girls are participating in forums that result in their empowerment and the furtherance of gender equality.

Further information about CSW62 and other parallel events is available here.

Speakers:

• Catherine Gatundu, International Policy Advisor- Livelihoods, Action Aid International
• Monica Mhoja, Tanzania Program Director, Landesa
• Winrose Mwangi, Grassroots Leader, GROOTS Kenya
• Priti Darooka, Executive Director, PWESCR, International Land Coalition’s member
• Stephanie Keene, Sr. Tenure Analyst, Rights and Resources Initiative
• Meena Bilgi, Gender and Sustainable Solutions Specialist, WOCAN
• Jesse Coleman, Legal Researcher, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment

Opening Statement: 

• Martha Osorio, Gender and Rural Development Officer, FAO

Moderator:

• Katia Araujo, Director of Advocacy-WLR, Landesa

Event co-sponsors: Action Aid-Nairobi, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, International Land Coalition, GROOTS Kenya, Landesa, Rights and Resources Initiative and Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management (WOCAN), Women Deliver and Deliver for Good Campaign

See here for joint recommendations for Member States represented at the 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women regarding the land and related natural resource rights of rural women and girls.