Gendered land rights, legal reform and social norms in the context of land fragmentation - A review of the literature for Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda

• Legal reforms in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda aim to improve women’s security of tenure by formalizing land rights. • Enhancing women’s rights to land are contingent on other legislation and changing social norms. • Customary tenure regimes, social norms and lack of legal literacy lead to the continued discrimination of women. • Growing demand for land enhances this discriminization with negative effects for women’s livelihoods. • Theoretically, the findings point to the limited effects of land tenure reforms alone in redressing gender inequality.