Luo women suffer from male defined customs

Exclusion of women from land ownership is a main issue addressed by MS Kenya partner CARD working among Luo communities in Nyanza

”This is our culture, our traditions, this is how we do things as Africans”
- Comment from a male participant during a discussion about the problems for women to inherit land

The above statement enters frequently during Human Rights Training sessions of MS partner organisation ‘Community Action for Rural Development’ (CARD) in Southern Nyanza. Defending human rights abuses with the concept of culture or more precise; Luo culture, is not new, but it is an often-used dustbin for sustaining the societal status quo of men.

Looking at the question of landownership and the widespread custom of widow inheritance provides a glimpse of the problems women are facing. From a developmental perspective it furthermore provides explanations on poverty and their causes in rural Nyanza. Excluding women and widows from landownership, excludes them from the very source of income and survival.

Irene Brinkmeyer, Development Worker with CARD meet with a self help group of widows who weave baskets to make a living.

Land is for males only
A woman in a traditional Luo context has no embedded right to inherit land from her deceased husband. Additionally a woman does not inherit land from her natal family, as only male children are obliged to inherit land. A family member, most of the time a brother of the diseased, inherits not only all property, but also the widows. Within the polygamous setting of the Luo society a man often has three and more wives. Inheritances can easily double the size of a family.

Asking for the reason of this tradition, men often respond that the inheritor takes care of the widow and children and makes sure they have a good life. Widow inheritance should guarantee social and economic security following this explanation.

Security might have been a good reason some years back. However, today it rather means a choice between two unpleasant options for the widow.

Women who leave their villages in Nyanza to live in the slums of Nairobi or on the beaches of Lake Victoria struggle hard to survive.

Beaten women come for help
The first choice - to agree to be inherited - accompanies widows often with a low status within their new family. Conflicts between the wives married by the new husband before and those inherited are frequent.  Widows often call their inheritors “terrorists” who make their life more dreadful.

The second choice, widows might have, is to refuse inheritance which put them in an even more difficult situation. First of all they are regarded as rebellions within the male dominated society as they challenge common customs and jeopardize the status quo. If they try to inherit their land and property, which they have cultivated for many years, the in-law family will in many cases try to grab their land by force.

Culture is a sensitive issue
Culture and embedded traditions is a sensitive area to train in. It touches upon believes, languages, the understanding of life and as outlined: inheritance and lineage. To give land to women contradicts Luo men’s understanding of lineage. The family is mostly explained through their male ancestors – not the female.

However, as culture is not static but rather dynamic, changes within in the Human Rights sphere are those to advocate for. The social-economic setting has changed over the past decades and poverty and its related problems play a pivotal role in the daily life of people in Southern Nyanza.

Therefore, traditions like widow inheritance cannot be explained with culture only hence the socio-economic impact needs to be accounted for as well. The persistence of the inheritance costumes in Nyanza is deeply related to the economic system driven in this country. 

Culture or male domination?
Inheritors benefit from the tradition as they accumulate land and thereby enjoy the possibility to added income (sugarcane farming). Left behind are women and children who too often are not benefiting from this additional income. It is therefore too simple to talk exclusively about culture in this context as it might lead to a wrong conclusion. Shading new light on widow inheritance the discussion gains a new dimension - one that elaborates on: (1) power of definition (who defines present tradition?) and (2) accumulation of capital (who gains?).

Women don’t advocate for the continuance of widow inheritance. They are part of the society, too. Human Rights advocacy is therefore not the abolishment of Luo culture or traditions, but rather the reincarnation of Luo ethics in a male dominated society (in his case: women’s and children’s security and survival). 

A discourse about ethic values as those hidden behind the practice of widow inheritance is the major goal of Human Rights intervention. Taking up these values ensure Human Dignity to all people the very end of CARD’s work. Moreover it enhances rural development as it ensures access to land:  the very mean for a good life in rural Kenya