Africa

Citation:

Bhatasara, Sandra. 2020. “Women’s Access to Land and Security of Tenure Post 2013 Constitution in Zimbabwe.” African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences 3 (1): 186-194.

Author: Sandra Bhatasara

Abstract:

Rural women’s livelihoods in Africa are dependent on their rights and entitlement to land as well as security of tenure. Equally important is how land laws and land governance systems shape and reshape women’s access to land and tenure security. As such, this paper focuses on women’s access to land and tenure security after the adoption of a new Constitution in 2013 and Statutory Instrument 53 of 2014 in Zimbabwe. Whereas both legal instruments are progressive and guarantee women’s rights to property, their realisation is shrouded in complexities and contradictions. Customary practices still insist on male privileges to own and allocate land whilst women have fragile usufruct rights and limited sole or joint ownership. State and administrators are also complicit in violating women’s rights. Overall, there is need to uphold both the Constitution and related laws to promote gender justice when it comes to women’s land rights and tenure security.

Keywords: women, land rights, tenure security, Constitution, Zimbabwe, land laws

Topics: Gender, Women, Governance, Constitutions, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zimbabwe

Year: 2020

Citation:

Benya, Asanda. 2017. “Going Underground in South African Platinum Mines to Explore Women Miners’ Experiences.” Gender & Development 25 (3): 509–22.

Author: Asanda Benya

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
Women have worked underground in South African mines since 2003. Their inclusion has been lauded by some as a step in the right direction – that is, towards gender equality in employment, as well as challenging gender stereotypes about work and women’s abilities. This dominant narrative, however, fails to acknowledge and address the challenges faced by women in mining. Using participant observation, living and working alongside women miners over the course of a year, I explored these challenges, and analysed their implications. I argue that if the mining sector wants to fully include women in mining, it needs to go beyond using quotas to achieve gender parity in numbers of women and men workers. While access to these jobs is important, retention depends on addressing the masculine culture which is deeply embedded in mining, making this a very challenging environment for women workers.

SPANISH ABSTRACT:
Desde 2003, las mujeres han trabajado en las minas subterráneas de Sudáfrica. A pesar de que algunos comentaristas han elogiado su inclusión como un avance hacia la igualdad de género en el empleo y como una manera de cuestionar los estereotipos de género vinculados al trabajo y las habilidades de las mujeres, esta narrativa predominante no reconoce ni enfrenta los retos que deben experimentar en la industria minera. A partir de la observación participante, y considerando mis propias vivencias y el trabajo realizado codo a codo con mujeres mineras durante un año, pude examinar dichos retos y analizar sus implicaciones. Sostengo que si se desea integrar plenamente a las mujeres en las actividades del sector minero éste debe superar el uso de cuotas para lograr la paridad de género en términos del número de trabajadores varones y mujeres. Si bien es importante tener acceso a estos empleos, la retención de las mujeres mineras depende de que esta industria enfrente la profundamente arraigada cultura masculina, a partir de la cual se ha generado un entorno difícil para las mujeres trabajadoras.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Les femmes travaillent sous terre dans les mines sud-africaines depuis 2003. Leur inclusion a été louée par certains comme un pas dans la bonne direction – autrement dit un progrès vers l’égalité entre les sexes sur le marché du travail –, ainsi que comme un aspect remettant en cause les stéréotypes de genre relatifs au travail et aux aptitudes des femmes. Cependant, ce fil narratif dominant ne reconnaît ni n’aborde les défis auxquels sont confrontées les femmes dans le secteur minier. En utilisant les observations des participants et en vivant et travaillant aux côtés de femmes mineurs pendant un an, je me suis penchée sur ces défis et en ai analysé les implications. Je soutiens que si le secteur minier veut pleinement inclure les femmes dans les activités minières, il doit aller au-delà de l’utilisation de quotas pour parvenir à la parité entre les sexes pour ce qui est du nombre d’ouvriers femmes et hommes. Si l’accès à ces emplois est important, la fidélisation dépend d’une lutte contre la culture masculine qui est profondément ancrée dans le secteur minier, ce qui en fait un environnement très difficile pour les ouvrières.

Keywords: women in mining, mining charter, masculine culture, transformation in mining, mining occupational culture

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Masculinity/ies, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Masculinism Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2017

Citation:

Bachange, Enchaw Gabriel. 2020. “Cultivating Gender Insensitive Land Tenure Reforms and Harvesting Food Insecurity in Cameroon, Sub-Saharan Africa.” African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences 3 (1): 67–79.

Author: Enchaw Gabriel Bachange

Abstract:

Effective reform pathways for addressing women’s access to land and tenure security in Africa are yet to be found despite their role in feeding the population. With the adoption of the AU Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa (2009) and the launch of the African Land Policy Centre (2017), hopes were high that existing precarious women’s access to land, tenure and food security might be transformed to opportunities. Prevailing discourses, however, still advocate for land reforms attuned to gender equality with a neo-classical chord. Gender parity-oriented reforms are less rubost and prone to producing ambivalent outcomes vis-à-vis women’s tenure challenges and aggravate food importation. This study uses evidence from two communities in Cameroon, and Africa to show that gender-sensitive land tenure reforms are crucial in the strive to guaranteeing women’s access to, control and land transfer for appropriate use and for bringing the second High 5s to fruition.

Keywords: food importation, food security, tenure security, women, land access, gender

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Cameroon

Year: 2020

Citation:

Valiani, Salimah, and Nestor Ndebele. 2018. “A Feminist Perspective on Women and Mining in South Africa.” In The Future of Mining in South Africa: Sunset or Sunrise?, edited by Salimah Valiani, 266-97. Woodmead, Johannesburg: Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA). 

Authors: Salimah Valiani, Nestor Ndebele

Annotation:

Summary:
“[T]his chapter focuses on South Africa – with its century-long history of mineral-based wealth generation and the recent, formal inclusion of women in the mining industry. It is argued that from a feminist perspective, mining thus far has not constituted a positive development experience for women. This is due to the myriad of occupational challenges faced by the still relatively small numbers of female mine workers, and the yet larger numbers of women negatively affected by the mining industry since its inception in the last quarter of the 19th century. Lahiri-Dutt and Macintyre (2006) have identified that women in mining areas in developing countries are typically not seen as active participants in the economy. Attempting to help reverse this misconception, it is further argued here that suboptimal use of female labour, destruction of community wealth and stunted social reproduction are the overall outcomes of mining for women in South Africa. The argument is demonstrated through discussion of the experiences of various groups of women examined by both academic researchers and advocate-researchers: female asbestos mine workers, female underground mine workers, female agricultural producers affected by mining and female artisanal mine workers” (Valiani & Ndebele, 2018, 267).

Topics: Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2018

Citation:

Kaggwa, Martin. 2020. “Interventions to Promote Gender Equality in the Mining Sector of South Africa.” The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2): 398–404. 

Author: Martin Kaggwa

Abstract:

This research study explored workplace challenges that women in the South African mining sector still face despite progressive gender sensitive regulations. The purpose of the research was to come up with evidence-based recommendations on how to promote sustainable gender equality in South Africa’s mining sector. A survey approach was used for the research, with a total of 2 365 women working in the mining sector being interviewed. The main challenge faced by the women was lack of career progress followed by discrimination in decision making and in remuneration. Women attributed these challenges to their immediate supervisors and company policies. A key lesson from the research was that legislation can be a useful tool in mitigating workplace challenges for women and reducing gender inequality in the mining sector but it is not a sufficient intervention. The study recommends that deliberate steps should be taken to facilitate and impart skills to women that they need to progress up the employment level hierarchy. This should be done while at the same time opening up opportunities of higher responsibilities for women to hold.

Keywords: mining, women, gender equality, South Africa

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2020

Citation:

Lawson, Lynda, and Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt. 2020. “Women Sapphire Traders in Madagascar: Challenges and Opportunities for Empowerment.” The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2): 405–11. 

Authors: Lynda Lawson, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

Abstract:

Recent literature has seen a growing appreciation of livelihoods based on informal artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) that supplements women’s primary reproductive roles, leaving a gap in the parts women play at the trading end of the value chain of ASM. This paper fills that void by adding to the growing body of research on gendered trade in ASM. It focuses on women traders and the complex challenges and opportunities they face while carrying out this informal trade. The paper is based on extensive field research, interviews, and focus group discussions of women sapphire traders in southwest Madagascar, colloquially known as “ladies in hats,” who work in clan-based associations described as nascent proto-institutions. It draws upon institutional and entrepreneurial theory to understand their position in the sapphire value chain, and illuminates how women’s status could be strengthened to create the foundation for a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. The paper also asks how women traders can be empowered in view of the current opportunities and challenges, and suggests that the proto-institutions could form the basis of a cooperative or a small company if regulatory and financial settings for these women can be improved and if there is an opportunity for them to formalize their trade.

Keywords: women in informal trade in Africa, Madagascar women, Madagascar sapphire, gender and mining

Topics: Economies, Informal Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Madagascar

Year: 2020

Citation:

Busingye, Godard. 2020. “African Feminism, Land Tenure and Soil Rights in Africa: A Case of Uganda.” In Legal Instruments for Sustainable Soil Management in Africa, edited by Hadijah Yahyah, Harald Ginzky, Emmanuel Kasimbazi, Robert Kibugi, and Oliver C. Ruppel, 133–55. International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

Author: Busingye, Godard

Abstract:

This chapter discusses the relationship between African feminism, land tenure and soil rights in Africa. It uses the lenses of African feminism, particularly the motherism brand, to provide a medium through which Africans can assert their rights to land and soil. It bases on a case of Uganda to critique the ideology of patriarchy which denies Africans automatic rights to land and soil or jus soli, through policy and the law. Automatic rights to land and soil would ensure that everyone in Africa is bonded to the land and soil as a mother is bonded to her child. Land and soil rights, which mean the same thing to an African, are contemporaneously acquired and are linked to citizenship rights, largely based on the principle of jus sanguinius. A general conclusion drawn is that in order to rectify the situation discussed African governments should use the lenses of African feminism to reconstruct policies and re-enact laws related to land ownership, soil and sustainable development. It recommends that African governments should review their land policies and laws, including constitutions, in order to grant land and soil rights to all Africans based on the principle of jus soli, while that of jus sanguinius should only be adopted in circumstances where it does not disadvantage any person. Future researchers should build on the analysis made herein and step up their advocacy drives to persuade African governments to undertake the necessary reforms in their land regulatory policies and laws. (Abstract from Springer Link)

Topics: Citizenship, Development, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Governance, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2020

Citation:

Baataar, Cuthbert, Joseph Bagah, and Tidoo Aminu Mohammed. 2020. “Gendered Customary Land Tenure Dynamics and Its Implications for Rural Development: A Case Study of the Tolon District in Northern Region of Ghana.” ADRRI Journal (Multidisciplinary) 28, no. 12 (5): 52–77.

Abstract:

The study argues for gendered customary land tenure dynamics and its implications for rural development to improve women access to land and human wellbeing in the Tolon District of the Northern Ghana. The study was mainly a case study design. Cluster sampling technique was used to select four communities for the study. Snowball sampling was also used to select 55 household heads whiles 10 key informants were purposively selected. Semi-structured interview, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect primary data. The study found that; men were the owners of customary lands which they inherited from their forefathers while leasehold lands were seen to be gender neutral. Borrowed landswere the major mode through which female-headed and other non-owning male households accessed l and for agricultural production which were bedeviled with many challenges. The study revealed that most rural households had no knowledge on legal establishment seeking to ensure equal ownership rights in properties. To improve gender gap on land ownership and the secured use of land for rural household wellbeing, this study recommends extensive local level stakeholders’ consultation to protect women rights to own customary lands to ensure equity.

Keywords: customary land tenure, women livelihood strategy, women empowerment, rural development

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2020

Citation:

Riley, Shamara Shantu. 2003. “Ecology Is a Sistah’s Issue Too: The Politics of Emergent Afrocentric Ecowomanism.” In This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, edited by Roger S. Gottlieb, 368–81. Abingdon: Routledge. 

Author: Shamara Shantu Riley

Annotation:

Topics: Class, Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Race Regions: Africa, West Africa, Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2003