Ruth K., a 40-year-old Taita mother of two in Kilifi county, was struggling to support herself financially. In 2016, her husband forced her out of their matrimonial home, and she left with nothing. She said, “When you work on something [marriage] for 10 years and lose it all at the blink of an eye, it’s devastating. I don’t have money. I’m not as rich as he [my husband] is. Where do I start and how do I start?”

Ruth K. did not have her name on any of the property they acquired during the marriage and she explained why,

I don’t have my name on any of the property we acquired even when I took a loan from my chama [women’s financial group] to pay for it. He [husband] never allowed me to have my name on the title. He would say ‘I’m the man of the house, what I have you have. If I own it, you own it.’ According to his custom [Kisii] women cannot own anything in their name. Who will support me to get my share? I’m on my own. 

According to Ruth K. and other women Human Rights Watch interviewed, in most cases where the husband holds all the power in the marriage, it could be futile for the wife to insist on having her name on property.

Report by the Human Rights Watch