Land of One’s Own: From Dream to Reality
Land of One’s Own: From Dream to Reality
Authors : Shilpa Vasavada
This is an account of the efforts of a group of community-based organizations (CBOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the state of Gujarat to enable women to gain access to land, the most productive natural capital. Realizing that the law may remain on paper in the absence of a concerted drive for its implementation at the grassroots level, the group made strategic efforts to facilitate the ownership of agricultural land by over 2470 women in Gujarat. The group’s journey and learnings are described below. Hopefully, these will help others to make similar efforts and inspire a nationwide movement to enable women to own agricultural land for livelihood security.
The Working Group for Women and Land Ownership (WGWLO), a network of NGOs and CBOs, has been advocating women’s right to land, primarily agricultural land, in Gujarat. Formed in January 2003, this collective has been serving as a platform for sustained action at the grassroots level and in policy advocacy.
Despite the fact that about 1.7 million2 women in India are employed in agricultural and allied activities, and are primarily responsible for producing almost two-thirds of all agricultural produce and about three-fourths of dairy products, their share of agricultural land continues to be extremely meagre.
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