Access to land and natural resources is essential to the survival of women in eastern DRC; yet the culture discriminates against them by denying them the right to acquire plots of land. In the Nyangezi region, around a hundred women have started to acquire land despite these barriers. They are inspiring others with their extraordinary stories.
WFP statistics show over 95% of rural women work in agriculture. Women account for 60% of the agricultural workforce and 73% of farmers, producing 80% of the foodstuffs intended for family consumption. “Many [women] had to practice agriculture on other people’s land,” says Rachel Boketa, former Country Director for Women for Women International. “They are working for other people for 2000 Congolese francs (approx. 1US dollar) per day and it’s not guaranteed that they will have that job every day.”
Women for Women International (WfWI) has long recognized that depriving women of their land rights not only marginalizes them but can also be seen as a particularly insidious form of gender-based violence.