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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Sera Sefeti in Nuku’alofa

‘We can’t even buy our own land’: the Tongan women pushing for change

Tongan women display their arts and crafts at the annual Tongan Royal Agriculture show
Changing Tonga’s laws to allow women to own land would be a complex process requiring a shift in social attitudes. Photograph: Sera Sefeti

Ofa Ki Levuka Guttenbeil-Likiliki was attending a workshop on gender issues in Tonga many years ago when she came to a striking realisation: “If my father dies everything in our house, from the land to belongings, will automatically transfer to my brother.”

The 49-year-old went straight to her dad and said “if you die, I will inherit nothing. He looked at me with nothing to say, and I told him that it was really unfair.”

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