In a country where land ownership has long tilted toward men, Ethiopia’s newly enacted Rural Land Administration and Use Proclamation No. 1324/2024 is being hailed as a turning point for women’s rights. The law promises to strengthen women’s ability to acquire, manage, and inherit land — rights that until recently existed mostly on paper.
Today, about 80 percent of Ethiopian women have their names registered on land ownership certificates, either individually or jointly through marriage. Yet, experts and advocates argue that cultural traditions, weak enforcement, and social resistance still prevent many women from fully exercising those rights.
The issue took center stage this week at a high-profile launch organized by Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia on August 26, 2025. The five-year project, unveiled under the theme “Stand for Her Land: Addressing the Importance of Women’s Land Rights,” underscored the transformative power of equal land access. The initiative is backed by UNICEF and implemented in partnership with regional and local authorities.
Framed within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Rio Declaration, and the African Union’s Vision 2063, the campaign emphasizes that secure land rights for women are fundamental to gender equality, food security, and economic growth. Organizers believe that women’s rights to housing, land, and property not only reduce poverty but also bolster independence, stability, and protection against gender-based violence.
Despite constitutional guarantees — including Article 35 (7), which grants women equal rights to acquire, administer, and transfer land — many women still lose access to land through inheritance disputes or entrenched social norms. Families often favor sons over daughters, reinforcing cycles of dependency and economic exclusion.
The new proclamation, however, seeks to dismantle those barriers. It not only secures women’s land rights but also integrates protections for youth, people with disabilities, and vulnerable groups by emphasizing the sustainable utilization of natural resources.
At the launch event, Abiy Demissie, a land administration law expert, praised the legislation as long overdue. “Equality has existed in law but not in practice,” he said. “This proclamation is critical to improving the livelihoods of farmers, particularly women, and by extension, strengthening Ethiopia’s economy.”
Abiy pointed to global statistics: women make up 45 percent of the agricultural workforce worldwide, yet control only 15 percent of the land. In Ethiopia, where rural women shoulder a disproportionate share of farm labor, he argued, secure land access is nothing short of a lifeline.
“There is nothing land rights cannot touch,” Abiy said. Citing the revised proclamation, he noted that the law affirms every individual’s right to freely access rural land in areas where they live or choose to engage in agricultural activity. Importantly, Article 21 guarantees women equal rights in joint landholding arrangements and requires their explicit consent for any transfer of land titles.
“This provision applies even to couples in polygamous marriages,” Abiy said. “To date, Ethiopia has legally certified more than 28 million of its 50 million land parcels, and about 80 percent of those certificates include the name of a woman.”
Abiy added that while the federal government drafted the law, responsibility for its enforcement now rests with regional administrations. Local institutions are tasked with ensuring compliance, particularly in safeguarding the land rights of women and other vulnerable groups.
In Oromia, for instance, the regional land and use administration proclamation reinforces gender equality and guarantees access to land without cost or discrimination. It also protects the land-use rights of individuals even if they move elsewhere and explicitly addresses the joint rights of spouses.
“The revised law will particularly benefit women by opening up significant opportunities for ownership,” said Melkamu Burayu, director of land services in the Oromia region. But he emphasized that rights also come with responsibilities. “With the right to use land comes the obligation to use it properly.”
Melkamu explained that under both the Oromia and federal proclamations, rural land can be acquired in three ways: through government allocation, inheritance, or gifts. Anyone obtaining land under these terms is recognized as a legal owner, he said, and the government is obliged to protect their rights. But improper possession of government, private, or communal property is strictly prohibited.
He also noted that any resident over 18 who lives—or intends to live—as a farmer, pastoralist, or semi-pastoralist has the right to receive free rural land from the government, with women guaranteed equal access.
Abiy underscored the broader implications, calling land rights a fundamental human rights issue in Ethiopia, where land remains the country’s most valuable resource with deep social, economic, and political weight. The revised proclamation, he said, protects land from misuse while affirming women’s rights to inherit, transfer, lease, consolidate, or exchange land. Women may also use land as collateral, sell movable assets located on it, and jointly develop holdings with other landowners.
“Today, more than ever, women have the right to inherit and administer land,” Abiy told The Reporter. “But for the proclamation to have real impact, Ethiopia needs a strong institutional structure to enforce it.”
The revised Rural Land Management and Use Bill, passed in May 2024, also extends use rights to farmers, enabling them to access formal land tenure certification and use their landholdings as collateral for credit — a move advocates say could reshape both rural livelihoods and the agricultural economy.
