Despite progressive provisions on gender equality in Tanzania’s land laws, women have little representation in land allocation decisions. Mainstreaming gender in local regulations can help address this problem. The Tanzania Women Lawyers Association, in partnership with the World Resources Institute and Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team, developed model by-laws to improve women’s participation in local-level decision-making on village land management. This took place in Kidugalo and Vilabwa villages in Kisarawe district. They were developed through a bottom-up, participatory process, and include explicit provisions to promote meaningful participation by women in village-level decision making. Outlines the processes followed to develop the by-laws, the results so far, lessons learned and prospects for scaling up.