Women-only village inspiring land equality in rural Kenya

(Photo: Courtesy)

When Jane Nolmongen’s husband banished her from their family home in northern Kenya after discovering she had been raped by a British soldier, she went somewhere she knew she would be safe: a village entirely run by women, where men are not allowed.

For the past 30 years, Nolmongen has lived in Umoja village in Samburu County, supporting her eight children and working land she could soon own, in defiance of a culture in which women are considered the property of their fathers and husbands.