Land Is Not for Women in Sierra Leone — Why Women Still Struggle to Own Land
Even though foreign investors may own or lease land, native Sierra Leonean women rarely can.
Women’s land ownership rights in Sierra Leone remain limited. Colonial laws and tribal customs still block women from owning or inheriting land.
Land in Sierra Leone operates under a dual tenure system dating back to the British colonial era. The British Crown Colony of Freetown (est. 1808) used English freehold and leasehold systems, while the surrounding Protectorate (declared 1896) was governed by local customary law.
Freehold tenure grants the legal right to own land outright; leasehold allows renting from an owner. These Western forms exist mainly around Freetown. In the rural Protectorate, customary law dominates—and that often means land is passed through male lineage, keeping women as users but not owners.
How Customary Rules Keep Women from Owning Land
Land disputes in rural Sierra Leone are settled informally by chiefs and elders, with rules based on unwritten tradition. Women are rarely invited into these negotiations. In many areas, women cannot sue in land cases or inherit family property. Boundary markers—trees or streams—are unreliable, and without formal titles women’s farms can be seized or sold without their consent.
Population Pressure and Modernization Attempts
Urban growth around Freetown—from 195,000 people in 1960 to over 1.5 million in 2015—has intensified land demand. After civil war, the government tried to modernize land records. In 2014 Sierra Leone launched the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure to promote fairer access. Yet in provinces ruled by customary law, mindsets remain slow to change and women’s ownership is still rare.
Why Secure Land Rights For Women?
Women produce most subsistence crops yet lack legal titles, leaving them vulnerable to land grabs and unable to use land as collateral for loans. As Landesa notes, “For women, land truly is a gateway right — without it, efforts to improve basic rights and well-being will be hampered.”
“It was taboo for a woman to inherit or purchase land, rent a house in her own name, or even speak in men’s meetings.” — Sayon Mansaray, rural Koinadugu social worker
Newer policies, such as the 2022 Customary Land Rights Act, aim to require female representation in land decisions. But implementation challenges and deep-rooted patriarchy still make secure ownership elusive for most women farmers.
