Botswana: Married women gain right to own land

ANKARA

For the first time married women in Botswana will be able to own land, the president of the Southern African country has announced.

“The Revised Botswana Land Policy of 2019 now gives married women the right to apply for land,” President Mokgweetsi Masisi tweeted Thursday, announcing the end of discriminatory treatment under older legislation.

He added that he encouraged “Local and Land Authorities as well as Non-Governmental Organisations to step up campaigns to educate women and orphans about their legally protected rights and offer them legal support to successfully claim their legitimate land right.”

Amending land policy in Botswana, a landlocked country bordering South Africa, to put an end to discrimination against married women was one of Masisi’s campaign promises ahead of the October 2019 elections.