Women should be empowered to own land - GSF

Madam Fati Alhassan, Executive Director of Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation (GSF), a northern Ghana based NGO, has criticized the practice of denying women the right to own and have access to land in some traditional areas.

She said such practice, which is also prevalent in northern Ghana, not only prevented women from engaging in meaningful economic ventures such as farming but violated their basic human rights.

Madam Alhassam said this when inaugurating a Community Land Development Committee (CLDC) created by the GSF at the Nanton Traditional Area in the Tamale Metropolis with the aim “to respond to land grabs, gender equity and security of land tenure in their various areas”.

Members of the CLDC will work in consultation with traditional authorities in the project communities which include Womale, Sanzrigu, Kparishei, Dufa, Duyin, Jarigu, Chekoo and Lahagu to achieve its (CLDC) aims.

Madam Alhassan asserted that women should have a fair distribution of land just as men to promote development in the communities.

She said GSF had supported the establishment of communication and advocacy platforms in the Nanton Traditional Area to project the voices of women in land related community discussions and decisions.

She said through the efforts of GSF, about twenty women at Womale had been given land documents enabling them to own land.

Madam Alhassan advised members of CLDC to serve as watchdogs of their various communities and as well as help the chiefs in their work to prevent grabbing of land at the communities.