Politicians have tried many schemes to develop Third World nations, few with any success. The Uganda Women's Network (UWN) is trumpeting its own solution, one that has withstood the test of time in other nations: enact and vigorously enforce property rights for all.

The right to own property is a key component of freedom. The women of Uganda want this freedom, and they are willing to fight for it, despite continuous cultural and political opposition. Though the Uganda Land Act of 1995 and other key pieces of legislation appear to give Ugandan women the right to own property, the idea of co-ownership is proving to be a sticking point.

Consistent with local customs, men own the family property and make family decisions. Women are primarily responsible for cultivating and coordinating the management of the land. On their homestead lands, women produce at least 50 percent of the nation's agriculture. Unfortunately, they have little incentive to make the most out of their land since their position is tenuous at best.

Because family property remains the property of the husband, should he suddenly decide that his wife must go, he can throw her off the land. Because of easy divorce and polygamy, women often find themselves out of house and home without notice. Indeed, even if the husband dies before the wife, the son or the husband's relatives retain the rights to the land.

Additionally, while the law supposedly protects some property rights of women, in rural areas law cedes authority to these traditions of patrilineal ownership, leaving women without any property rights, not even co-ownership. Though women are allowed to own property according to some legal provisions, they are effectively stripped of these rights by customs that make them the property of their husbands. Rather than suffer under this regime, Ugandan women have found strength through protests and political lobbying.

The UWN and the women of Uganda are dissatisfied with this system and they aim to do something about it. During the past two International Women's Days, hundreds of Ugandan women dressed in black and staged protests across the nation. At a meeting last month in the capital of Kampala, the UWN devised strategies for bringing this issue to the legislature, settling for now on lobbying activities. On a smaller scale, women have begun to use the courts to fight back, though success is hard to achieve.

These struggles, however, have gained some ground. Baguma Isoke, minister of state for lands, has formally sought the advice of activists, and the media is beginning to report their story. Though the legislature's decision has been deferred, pressure is mounting as activists and women in the countryside become more vocal. This is a battle that has just begun.

This tale of a grassroots outcry by women for property rights is another sign that international attitudes are moving away from aid-based strategies for economic development towards property-rights strategies.

Though past and present socialist experiments to construct economies through command and control have all failed, the people affected by such policies did not lose sight of what is really needed – rights that will enable them to pursue their self interest. Once Ugandan women are assured property rights, their crops, their incomes, their freedom, and their dignity will grow.

– Joelle Cowan

Public Policy Fellow