Caught between Customary and State Law: Women’s Land Rights in Uganda in the Context of Increasing Privatization of Land Tenure Systems

Includes women’s land rights and tenure security in a context of legal pluralism and land tenure privatization; competing legal systems and land rights protection on the ground � what is going wrong? Argues that in a context of increasing land scarcity, high population pressure and progressing land tenure privatization, men are increasingly taking advantage of their superior position within the patrilineal tenure system, advancing their own interests at the expense of weaker family members, first and foremost the women in the family. At the same time, women’s ability to successfully defend their interests in land is severely limited as they often lack both the social ties and financial capability necessary to assert their rights and obtain justice in a corrupt and male-biased institutional environment.