How Maasai Women Are Resisting Land Grabs in Tanzania

The Maasai are a semi-nomadic pastoralist community that proudly practice an Indigenous way of life closely tied to their land and cattle. Their ancestral lands border the East African Rift Valley, the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The government aims to expand the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania and plans to turn it into a game reserve.

In Mwanza, Tanzania, Nairukoki Leyian-Naisinyai told Hibist Kassa that, "Corporations come with papers from the government claiming that they have the right to our land." She points to the large corporations that have entered the lands of the Maasai people to mine rubies and tanzanite. The Maasai can neither assert their rights to the land nor benefit from the mining of these precious resources.

This is compounded for Maasai women who do not have the capital to engage in mining, and do not own livestock. Additionally, economic activity among Masaai comunities is controlled by men. Leyian-Naisinyai says, "Women are expected to do housework and care for the livestock... [owned by] men." Meanwhile, climate change is only adding to the issues faced by women.