Effect of land tenure security on women’s empowerment in Narok County, Kenya

Joseph Jabu Mbudzya, Eric Obedy Gido, George Owuor, & Godfrey Atsiaya Obwina

Abstract

Land is an essential factor of production that determines the agricultural transformation of any country. However, women’s access to land rights in developing countries is still limited. To analyse the effect of possession of land rights on women’s empowerment among rural women in Kenya, cross-sectional primary data was collected from 366 women participants selected using a multistage sampling procedure. Descriptive statistics show that women with land rights were more empowered, younger, more educated and owned more land than those without land rights. The results of the two-stage least squares model suggest that possession of land rights increases women’s empowerment by about 0.25%. Other factors affecting women’s empowerment include marital status, gap in level of education, ownership of oxen, being in a polygamous marriage, off-farm income, group membership and access to credit. These findings underscore the need to formulate policies that facilitate women’s access to land rights in rural areas, thus improving their empowerment.