For two decades, Sarah and her husband farmed their land, growing pepper and cassava in a small rural town in Liberia’s Bong County. As iscommon in Liberia, their marriage was customary; two protracted civil wars impeded their plans to formalize the union. Income generated from selling their crops paid school fees for their five children.
Come 2003, everything changed. Sarah’s husband was killed in Liberia’s Civil War, leaving her alone to raise their family during the harsh wartime. Sarah’s late husband’s brother then attempted to claim her as his wife, a practice known as “widow inheritance” wherein women are inherited as property. When Sarah refused, her in-laws chased her off her land. She retreated to live with her own relatives, finding small pieces of day labor to scrape by.
“No one even helped me to take care of my children; I was suffering with my children during the war. My husband’s family did not help me but encouraged me to be inherited by my big brother-in-law,” Sarah said.
Equal rights to land
For a long time, land in Liberia’s rural areas was governed by customary law, which allowed for patriarchal practices to marginalize women, denying them access to land. In 2003, there was no safeguard preventing Sarah’s in-laws from stealing the fields she had tilled for half her life—the land her children depended on to survive.
But that is no longer the case: in 2018, Liberiaadopted the Land Rights Act (LRA), which opened the door for the 2.3 million Liberians living in rural areas to finally gain legal recognition of their customary land rights. With key provisions to protect women’s rights within customary communities, the LRA is widely considered to be one of the most progressive land rights reforms on the African continent. Under the LRA, Sarah and her late husband would hold equal rights to their land.
A challenging reality
As groundbreaking as the LRA’s passage was, fulfilling its promise has proven challenging.
Many women, especially in rural areas, face a lack of awareness around the new law. A 2018 research study conducted in Bong and Lofa Counties revealed only 42 percent of women had heard of the LRA. Onlyone third of women nationwide are literate, and much of the country primarily speaks one of Liberia’s 16 local languages.
Exacerbating the problem, discriminatory social norms limit women’s decision-making authority around land, which is traditionally viewed as a man’s domain despite considerable land-related work performed by women. Marital customs, including the prevalence of informal unions like Sarah’s and the practice of widow inheritance, have contributed to a widespread perception in Liberia that contends “property cannot own property.”
Knowledge is power: Amplio Talking Books
Sarah learned about her rights to land in a unique manner: by listening to a handheld audio device that explains the LRA in her local language, Kpelle. TheAmplio Talking Books are part of an innovative project implemented byLandesa, an international NGO, thateducates Liberians about their land rights.
The Talking Books are durable and easy to use, offering educational messaging in local languages to reach typically underserved communities in rural Liberia. Landesa circulates the devices in three counties in Liberia, reaching approximately 3,600 people each month.
Families in Sarah’s community, Panta Clan, received Talking Books in 2021. “The Talking Books opened our eyes on women, widows, and children’s inheritance rights,” she explains. “My sons also listened and became aware about their rights.”
In Sarah’s case, that awareness made all the difference. Together with her children and equipped with her new knowledge, Sarah returned to her in-laws and requested to use her rightful land. This time, her late husband’s family agreed.
Protecting community land
Awareness is the first step in strengthening community land rights in Liberia. Next comes community land formalization, a multi-step process that culminates in the issuing of title deeds for households. For a community, this deed means protection from exploitation, security for the future, and the peace of mind that comes from having legally recognized and documented land rights.
Sarah’s community, Panta Clan, completed their land formalization process last year with support from Landesa and partners. Throughout the process, women stood next to men. In years prior, women—and particularly widows like Sarah—did not speak at Panta Clan’s community meetings. Now, they participate fully in the decision-making.
Land for the future
For Sarah, regaining her land opens endless possibilities. Land is her livelihood and a place to call home. Land can mean income to spend oneducation and nutritious food for her family. For many women, owning land translates tohigher status in a community and power to participate in decision-making. Land is stable ground to build a future.
Securing women like Sarah a foothold in society is vital to the broader struggle for gender equality across the continent, a key element of Africa’sAgenda 2063 and theUN Sustainable Development Goals. This requires investment in programming that addresses challenges from root to stem. Stronger laws and policies—like the LRA—are a critical piece of the puzzle but will not alone address the needs of Liberia’s women.
As we mark International Widows’ Day this month, we must advocate for and invest in the future of women like Sarah. Because while the beginning of Sarah’s story is sadly too familiar in Liberia, its resolution, too, can become the status quo.
