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.