Analysis of Women’s Land Rights: The Practices in North Shoa Zone in Oromia Region

Abstract

The prevalence of awareness of the law and/or rights and its practices, institutions that support women to exercise their rights, challenges, and effects of failure to exercise women’s right to land. This article focuses on identifying and critically analyzing the experiences of women in accessing land rights taking the case of the North Shoa Zone of Oromia National Regional State. The specific objectives were to critically analyze legal and practical challenges to women’s right to land as well as to analyze cultural, and other social norms about women’s right to land and to explore practical challenges in the case of North Shoa Oromia Regional state. This article followed a qualitative research approach and collected primary data from interviews with judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, Lawyers, and individual experts from the judiciary, land administration bureau, and other government officials. Moreover, this article has utilized various primary authorities such as international, national, and regional laws, proclamations, regulations, books, and cassation decisions are used in conducting this article. Secondary data were collected from different institutional reports (court, Women’s and Children’s Affairs Office, social affairs, land administration bureau, and others if any).  This article finds and examines women’s right to land and the problem encountered women’s right to land. Women are considered marginalized groups in the community and many factors affect the right of women’s access to land which include lack of awareness of their rights, facing financial problems to claim their rights, and interpretation of the law by judges in district court vary from time to time including the issue of registration of the contract of donation on the day of marriage. Thus this article aims to analyze the legal as well as practical challenges that exist in North Shoa about women’s land rights. To analyze legal as well as practical challenges that exist in North Shoa the researcher while conducting research identified that women’s right to land is affected due to lack of awareness, lack of qualified experts, and this study is not only concerned with identifying the problem rather recommending that the government must take care of women’s right as well as other vulnerable groups by analyzing existing problems with possible solutions in implementing all rights of women’s through effective and efficient manners, developing an institution which ensure the protection of women’s rights since women’s plays a vital role in the socio-economic and political arena of the area.