Women building power in struggles for land, housing and natural resources

The #WomenLeadOnLand video series features testimonies from women leaders of social movements for land, housing and natural resource   rights.

Around the world, land, housing and natural resources are being commodified and exploited for profit.  In the name of development, indigenous peoples, peasants, fisher folk, nomadic groups and people living in urban and peri-urban areas face dispossession and impoverishment. Women experience disproportionate impacts of this development model and, when they stand up to defend the rights of their communities, they are often shunned, defamed or attacked.

Meanwhile, women are also building power and bolstering their leadership capacities. They are raising their voices and standing up for human rights all around the world. Although they face barriers at multiple levels, women leaders challenge conventional notions about what women are supposed to be, and bring enormous strength and resilience to the global struggle for change.

Strengthening social movements, and particularly women’s power in struggles for land, housing and natural resources, is one of the main goals of the Women and ESCR Working Group. In the #WomenLeadOnLand series, women leaders from social movements and grassroots groups from Africa, Asia and Latin America share their stories of strength, resilience and solidarity. These interviews were conducted during the first strategic exchange of women from the grassroots that took place in May 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya.

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