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While women’s rights to land and property are protected under the Kenyan Constitution of 2010 and in various national statutes, in practice, women remain disadvantaged and discriminated. The main source of restriction is customary laws and practices, which continue to prohibit women from owning or inheriting land and other forms of property. Customary practices in Kenya generally grant women secondary rights to land, namely through their relationships to a male relative; women are rarely able to inherit land in their own right.1 Kenya has undergone legal reforms that are geared towards granting Kenyan women equal inheritance rights. This paper highlights some of the key challenges that women face as a result of customary practices while at the same time looks at some of the legal reforms that promotes women’s rights highlighting gaps that still exist.
