WOMEN AND PROPERTY RIGHTS IN KENYA: A CASE STUDY OF KITUI COUNTY

Although The Constitution of Kenya (2010) guarantees men and women equal rights to own and inherit property. Nevertheless, women´s economic participation and empowerment continues to be elusive because despite this constitutional promise, women continue to face systemic barriers in exercising these rights. National data indicates that women hold less than ten per cent of registered land titles in their own names, even though they contribute over eighty per cent of agricultural labour. This study is grounded in feminist legal theory and African feminism, drawing on the Feminist Legal Bricolage Methodology (FLBM), to interrogate why such disparities persist despite formal legal guarantees. The article argues that while law purports to be gender-neutral, its meaning and interpretation reproduce patriarchal assumptions that privilege men as default property holders. Methodologically, the study draws on qualitative fieldwork in Kitui county, using focus group discussions and key informant interviews to explore women’s understandings of property, their interpretations of property rights, and their lived experiences of claiming or being denied ownership. Findings reveal tensions between statutory guarantees, customary practices, and women’s everyday realities. The article concludes that without redefining property rights from women’s perspectives, laws risk perpetuating injustice rather than correcting it. The article recommends policy and legislative reforms by demonstrating the need to ground property rights in women’s lived experiences in order to advance substantive gender equality and equity.