With a familiar emphasis, Gambian president Yahya Jammeh has recently said that Gambian women have access to and own land without legal restriction. But do women really have equal access and ownership over this productive asset as men? Musoolula Bantaba differs owing to the deafening cries of women, especially rural women.

“There is access to land for all [Gambian] women. All of us come from homes,” the Gambian president Yahya Jammeh has said recently. He was speaking during the official launching of the` National Women’s Federation, the umbrella body of all women groups in the country.  
Standing in front of thousands of women who converged at the Independence Stadium to mark this event, which has been described as crucial towards the empowerment of Gambian women, President Jammeh said there is no law in The Gambia which restricts women from accessing and owning land.
Jammeh also revealed that his government has put in place legislated policies and strategies in support of the empowerment of women and the girl child in an environment of equity, fair play and justice. He noted that his administration will always see that the rights and liberty are safeguarded against all forms of abuse and marginalization.
(52) (2) (c) of the women Act 2010 stated that “promote women’s access to, and control over, productive resources, such as land, and guarantee their right to property;
Jammeh’s statement was a bit in conflict with the then chairperson of the national Women’s council who among others called for women to have more access to productive assets such as land.
More contradictory, is the concerns of rural women who, when I travelled to Brikamaba recently, on the occasion of Rural Women’s Day, have bemoaned among others that they are denied access to land.
“We have no access to land. Poverty hits hard at the female which comprises a greater component of the population”. If you are a woman living in the rural areas, you are likely to get poorer and poorer than a man.
 Women are more vulnerable, no access to land in the respective communities, with less education and in a state of poorer health conditions compared to men.
 Women are likely to live in such a situation and live in Struggle coupled with low-paid labour and care for the home; rural women often have to cope with frequent pregnancies and child mortality.  Rural women do not take part in decision making in the family as they have little or no say in the way the family spends its income.
It is true that all of us come from homes as the president put it, but that should not mean that every woman from a home in the Gambia has access to land whether married or single.
The Government has hailed the movement of women as prompt but Women in the Gambia have very few ownership rights. Concerning access to land, only a small proportion of women are entitled to land. The problem is especially acute in rural areas: traditional and cultural practices allow women to have the right to use land but forbid them to own it.
The struggle is on to convince the nation that women need secure rights to have access to land. Justice is not being done to the rural women
A National Women’s Council Act was enacted in 1980 to set up a body to advise government on women’s affairs and a Women’s Bureau established to implement decisions of this council. Fine but how effective is this?