For Jemimah Njuki, chief of economic empowerment at UN Women, the intersection between agriculture and women’s empowerment has been ever-present. She says she will never forget her father insisting to people who questioned it that she had the same right to inherit his land as her brothers — according to new laws that had passed in Kenya regarding equal inheritance. “They actually turned to my brothers and asked whether they were OK with it,” she said.
That spurred her interest in land rights. But she also observed other inequalities that impacted women’s lives surrounding the production of food and living off the land — her mother and five sisters working on household chores in the evening, after doing a hard day’s work on the family farm, for example.
Later, after initially studying food science and technology as an undergraduate, she studied for a doctorate in rural development, specializing in gender, inspired once again by the gender-related barriers women were facing in communities in Kenya while working for a government agency as a projects officer on water, education, and food security projects in arid and semiarid areas.
About the author
Helen Lock
Helen Lock is a former associate editor at Devex, responsible for commissioning, editing, and producing content on the partnerships editorial team. She has seven years of experience in journalism as a multimedia content producer for an international advocacy organization and as a reporter and section editor for U.K. national newspapers. As a freelance journalist, she covered cities, tech for good, global development, and education. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Manchester and a master’s in Journalism from Goldsmiths, University of London.
