Analyse
The Geopolitics of Gender and Land Governance in West Africa: Between Legislative Reform and Ground Realities
Women produce the majority of the food consumed across West Africa, yet they continue to face a contradiction that decades of legal reforms have failed to resolve: their contribution to agricultural production is central, while their control over land remains marginal. Across almost all countries in the sub-region, women own only a tiny fraction of registered land ranging from 1% in Senegal to 11% in Côte d’Ivoire, according to FAO and World Bank data. This policy brief examines the political and institutional drivers of this contradiction, analyzes documented cases of land reform in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, and proposes recommendations for regional and national policymakers.