Aly Ibrahim Maiga | April 18, 2022
News Brief
Zeinaba Alhouda, in her late thirties, lives with her six children in Koima, Gounzoureye, more than 1,000 kilometres from Mali’s capital, Bamako. To provide for her family, Mrs. Alhouda farms, mainly growing maize, sorghum, and rice. She has tried to purchase land several times but has been refused by landowners because of a traditional belief that women shouldn’t own land. No law in Mali forbids women from farming and several laws favour women's access to farmland and inputs. But traditional beliefs in northern Mali maintain that women have no right to own cultivable land. Despite these difficulties, some women are fighting in court and in their communities to get the land and inputs they need for farming. Ms. Alhouda stands firm in her beliefs and says that women's persistence will eventually change the minds and hearts of people in Mali.
Zeinaba Alhouda, in her late thirties, lives with her six children in Koima, Gounzoureye, more than 1,000 kilometres from Mali’s capital, Bamako. To provide for her family, Mrs. Alhouda farms, mainly growing maize, sorghum, and rice.
Providing for her family is challenging because of the difficulties Mrs. Alhouda faces in accessing farmland. She has tried to purchase land several times but has been refused by landowners because of a traditional belief that women shouldn’t own land.
She says, “I can’t get access to arable land and inputs like men. According to them, women are not allowed to own land and cultivate it because it is against tradition.”
To address this challenge, Ms. Alhouda landscaped the area around her house so she could plant fruit trees and vegetables, and now sells her produce at local markets. With this income, she buys inputs and rents land under her son’s name.
Ms. Alhouda is one of many women in Mali who face difficulties accessing cultivable land and agricultural inputs. According to a report by Mali’s Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children, and the Family, at least 85% of women in northern Mali face these difficulties.
As of 2019, women in Mali owned or controlled just 3.7% of land.
No law in Mali forbids women from farming and several laws favour women’s access to farmland and inputs. But despite these laws, traditional beliefs in northern Mali maintain that women have no right to own cultivable land. Ms. Alhouda says that these beliefs are, in some cases, linked to religion and that in this part of the country, almost all land belongs to men.
Despite these difficulties, some women are fighting to get the land and inputs they need for farming. Soyata Dicko is a farmer in Lobou, Gounzoureye, who has been a widow for seven years. After the death of her husband, Ms. Dicko wanted to cultivate her husband’s land for food and income, but her brothers refused her access.
To gain possession of her husband’s inheritance, Ms. Dicko turned to the courts.
She explains, “I filed a case with the courts against my brothers to have my land returned to me and hired a lawyer to defend me in court. The procedure is still ongoing.”
Salma Sisse is 42 years old and lives in Tondibi, Bourem, in the Gao region of Mali. Like Ms. Alhouda, after her husband died in 2001, Ms. Sisse found it difficult to gain access to his land because her in-laws objected.
Despite these challenges, Ms. Sisse hasn’t given up.
She says, “I had to hire a lawyer who helped me and fought for me. It was in 2018 that I was able to access some of my husband’s land to work. I don’t despair. I continue to fight so that I can have access to all my husband’s land because he owned several plots.”
Oumar Maiga is a lawyer and a representative of the Deme-So legal clinic, an association that provides legal aid and advice to women like Ms. Dicko and Ms. Sisse. Mr. Maiga believes that, as stated in national law, women in Mali have the same right to land as men.
He says that the difficulties that women face when trying to access land are failures of the law and the persistence of sexist traditional beliefs and practices.
Ms. Alhouda stands firm in her beliefs and says that women’s persistence will eventually change the minds and hearts of people in Mali.
She says, “I invite women who face the same difficulties as me to unite to fight for their rights.”
This resource is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through Global Affairs Canada.
Photo: A woman displaced from Shangil Tobaya rides her donkey on farm land in Tawila, Sudan. Credit: UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran.