Stockholm Conference on Environmental
Law and Justice,  6-9 September 2006

Abstract
Patricia Kameri-Mbote (Nairobi):
Law, Gender and Environmental Resources: Excavating Women's Rights
in Environmental Law  

While laws on environmental and natural resources are largely gender neutral, ownership, control and access to these resources is gendered. Access to justice in the environmental realm means involving stakeholders in the management of the resources, decision-making on issues pertaining to the resources and avenues of redress in the event of non-observance of their rights. It demands going beyond the dictates of formal equality espoused in gender neutral laws and adressing the situation and needs of the subjects of law through substantive equality to foster meaningful access to resources.

This paper looks at the issues of access, control and ownership of natural resources and the implications of these issues on women's access to resources in Kenya. It underscores the role of law as either facilitating or constraining access to resources at the international, regional, national and local levels. In assessing the role of law, the paper will identify the dominant paradigm in the environmental resources' management and control and suggest ways of engaging that paradigm with a view to enhancing women's rights.

 

 

 

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