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About WRRC work on women’s inheritance and property rights (WIPR)

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WRRC work on women’s inheritance and property rights focused on strategies to counter the disempowering uses of ‘culture’ (including religion,  beliefs, customs and traditions) in three key areas:

  1. Women’s right to inherit land and other forms of property
  2. Women’s right to meher (bridewealth), as provided for in Muslim marriages
  3. Women’s access to land under the control of the State or customary authorities

A Working Group carried out the work and supported strategies of eight partners in seven countries:

  1. Foundation of Solidarity for Justice, Afghanistan
  2. Human Angle, Nigeria
  3. Mutawinat Benevolent Company, Sudan
  4. Réseau Africain Pour le Développement Intégré (RADI), Senegal
  5. Réseau des femmes pour la paix (REFEPA), Niger
  6. Sangtani Women Rural Development Organization Rajanpur, Pakistan
  7. Semarak Cerlang Nusa, Indonesia [in three projects]
  8. Women Workers Help-Line, Pakistan

The Members of the WIPR Working Group were:

  1. Chulani Kodikara (WIPR convenor, January 2010–June 2011), a research associate at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies in Colombo, and author of Muslim Family in Sri Lanka: Theory, Practice and Issues of Concern to Women
  2. Vivienne Wee (WIPR research consultant, July 2010–June 2011; convenor, June 2009–December 2009), an anthropologist who has worked on issues of gender, power, religion and ethno-nationalism, especially in Indonesia, a researcher with the Institute for Women’s Empowerment (IWE) in Hong Kong, and Visiting Scholar at the Gender Research Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  3. Fatou Sow, founding member of Le Groupe de recherche sur les Femmes et les lois au Sénégal (GREFELS) and  Coordinator of the International Coordination Office of Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML)
  4. Ayesha Mei-Tje Imam, board member of the international solidarity network Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) and founding director of BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights in Nigeria, for which she received the John Humphrey Freedom Award in 2002 
  5. Khawar Mumtaz, Chief Executive Officer, Shirkat Gah Women's Resource Centre, Pakistan
  6. Azmeh Khan, formerly from Shirkat Gah Women’s Resource Centre, Pakistan (WIPR member in 2009-2010)
  7. Zeinabou Hadari, permanent secretary for the country coordinating mechanism for the global fund to fight aids, tuberculosis and malaria in Niger, as well as co-founder and member for MAPADEV (African Link for Peace and Development) and REFEPA (Women’s Network for Peace in Niger)
  8. Samia El Hashmi, a practising lawyer and co-founder of Mutawinat, a leading women’s rights NGO in Sudan
  9. Dini Anitasari Sabaniah, project coordinator at Semarak Cerlang Nusa, Indonesia
  10. Rokhaya Gaye, a lawyer coordinating the legal programme of the African Network for Integrated Development – Réseau Africain pour le Développement Intégré (RADI)
  11. Faizun Zackariya(WIPR convenor and member till June 2009) Co-Founder Muslim Women's Research and Action Forum, Sri Lanka and Board Member of the International Solidarity Network Women Living Under Muslim Laws.

There were four project mentors providing advice to the project partners:

  1. Vivienne Wee mentored Semarak Cerlang Nusa, Indonesia
  2. Khawar Mumtaz and colleagues in Shirkat Gah mentored Sangtani Women Rural Development Organization Rajanpur and Women Workers    Help-Line, both in Pakistan
  3. Ayesha Imam mentored the four projects in Africa: Human Angle, Nigeria; Mutawinat Benevolent Company, Sudan; Réseau Africain Pour le Développement Intégré (RADI), Senegal; Reseau des femmes pour la paix (REFEPA), Niger.
  4. In addition, Roya Rahmani (WRRC programme manager, who attended most WIPR WG meetings in an ex-officio status) mentored Foundation of Solidarity for Justice, Afghanistan

The WIPR Working Group had three face-to-face meetings in the course of the project:

  1. Dakar, Senegal, June 2009
  2. Jakarta, Indonesia (Working Group members and project partners), June 2010
  3. Dakar, Senegal (Working Group members and project partners), February 20111. This meeting was organised subsequent to the WIPR panel presentations at the World Social Forum (7-9 February 2011, Dakar).

The WIPR Working Group also participated in the Asia Pacific NGO Forum on Beijing+15 (Oct 22-24 October 2009, Quezon City, Philippines) by producing a position paper “Addressing men-made disasters: how women have been dispossessed of rights to land, food security and livelihood”, which waspresented on its behalf by Roya Rahmani at the Forum.