Rights

Citation:

Chu, Jessica. 2011. “Gender and ‘Land Grabbing’ in Sub-Saharan Africa: Women’s Land Rights and Customary Land Tenure.” Development 54 (1): 35–39. doi:10.1057/dev.2010.95.

Author: Jessica Chu

Abstract:

Jessica Chu seeks to enquire into the understanding of gender impacts with the new proliferation of cross-border, large-scale land transactions or global ‘land grabs’. There has been a lack of discussion of gender in considering land grabs, most notably in the World Bank’s recent report and in the various proposed guidelines. However, by not having addressed the current debates on women’s land rights, particularly in regard to the return of customary law, current proposed solutions will fail to address the gender inequalities propagated by the land grabs.

Keywords: women's land rights, customary law, land grabs, the World Bank, gender relations

Topics: Economies, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, International Financial Institutions, International Organizations, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights Regions: Africa

Year: 2011

Citation:

Behrman, Julia, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Agnes Quisumbing. 2011. The Gender Implications of Large-Scale Land Deals. IFPRI Discussion Paper 01056. Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division, Environment and Production Technology Division, International Food Policy Research Institute.

Authors: Julia Behrman, Ruth Meinen-Dick, Agnes Quisumbing

Abstract:

This paper strives to introduce a discussion of the gender dimensions into the growing debate on large-scale land deals. It addresses the current information gap on the differential gender effects of large-scale land deals through (1) an overview of the phases of large-scale land deals and discussion of related effects on rural men and women based on new literature on large-scale land deals and past literature on the gender effects of commercialization and contract farming; (2) a presentation of further evidence using several recent case studies on the gender effects of large-scale deals; (3) an identification of knowledge gaps and areas where further research is needed; and (4) a recap of promising initiatives, followed by recommendations and conclusions.

Keywords: Gender, large-scale land deals, land tenure reform

Topics: Economies, Gender, Land Tenure, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights

Year: 2011

Citation:

Veuthey, Sandra, and Julien-François Gerber. 2010. “Logging Conflicts in Southern Cameroon: A Feminist Ecological Economics Perspective.” Ecological Economics 70 (2): 170–77. 

Authors: Sandra Veuthey, Julien-François Gerber

Abstract:

Growing attention has been paid to gender in ecological economics, political ecology and development studies but a focus on gender in resource extraction conflicts is still rare. This article explores women-led resistance movements to commercial logging in South-eastern Cameroon, focusing on the moabi tree (Baillonella toxisperma). The latter provides oil, medicine and other non-timber products and use-values to local forest societies and particularly to women. Resistances arise because most socio-environmental costs of the international logging trade are imposed on the rural populations and especially on women of the extractive regions. The aim of this paper is to analyze the root causes of the gender structure of such mobilisations as well as the impacts on gender relations induced by such resource extraction conflicts. After proposing a typology of different environmental currents and their gender counterparts, this paper focuses on the gender construction of local Bantu societies, taking as a point of departure Paola Tabet's thesis that masculine control over production tools is the objective factor revealing the sexual division of work. In our case study, we found that the men's control over technology not only highlights the sexual work division but also the gendered division of access rights to natural resources. Thereby, we argue that the sexual division of access rights and work — revealed through differentiated control over technology — are two key institutions explaining the gendered structure of local mobilizations. We, then, discuss the empowerment allowed by the new forms of women's organizations, with a particular focus on the appropriation of new production tools by women. This highlights a non-Western form of environmental feminism.

Keywords: biodiversity, community forest institutions, environmental conflicts, gender division of work, logging, non-timber forest products

Annotation:

Quotes:

“We use Tabet (1998) theoretical insight – on the control of tools as the objective factors of the sexual division of work – and propose an extension of it by arguing that, in this case, control over technologies also reveals gendered access to resources” (171)

“Gender and empowerment questions are generally dealt with in the perspective of women’s catching up with men through their insertion in market economy (wage, labour, access to property and credit, and education). Of course, reaching equality is desirable, but over what standards? It is often the Western masculine model that determines the norms to be reached, thereby complying with the dominant ideology of development which demands that non-Western societies catch up with industrialized countries thorugh their rapid insertion in world markets” (171)

“In many environmental conflicts – such as the ones examined in this article – women play a key role because of the gender division of work, power, and access rights to natural resources, implying specific responsibilities, knowledge, and action spheres.” (171)

“Indeed, the ‘axe right’ (droit de hache), that is, the right to clear a forest plot for cultivation, ensures that control over land. By monopolizing ironwork and by explicitly prohibiting axe access to women, men are therefore the only ones able to obtain that right to land. In addition, the ‘axe right’ is reinforced by customary institutions that regulate access to natural resources.” (173)

“In summary, the moabi attracts specific feminine gender interest and its growing scarcity has a particular impact on women who (1) must find food alternatives, (2) suffer from a decrease in their income, and (3) lack materials for healthcare, particularly for the treatment of feminine genital illnesses.” (173)

“There can be gender conflicts within the household as men are more inclined to sell moabi for the monetary revenue than women, who are often opposed to that for two main reasons: feminine gender interests (pharmacopeia, food and income) and the fact that women do not benefit from its sale as they do not enjoy the ownership of moabi trees. So, gender rights over natural resources resulting from the gendered division of technology push women to actively resist the commercial exploitation of moabi and to fight for its conservation.” (173-174)

“Conflicts arise because the commodity chain of moabi is unequal as most socio-environmental costs of international trade are imposed on the rural populations and especially on women of the extractive regions, while the benefits remain within Western industries.” (174)

“It is interesting to point out that men monopolize a step of the process as soon as a new production tool is added, although oil processing is traditionally a feminine task. This accords with Tabet’s theory that activities ‘are allowed for women on when they are accomplished without tools or with very rudimentary ones, while the introduction of complex tools makes masculine even the most traditionally feminine activities’ (Tabet, 1998:20). The example of moabi oil extraction fits with this and it underlines the risk that CADEFE’s project could be taken over by men…” (175)

“The organization of production and commercialization of moabi oil simultaneously has two goals. This first one is feminist: it allows women’s control over new production tools in order to keep the management of oil production, and consequently, it may reverse masculine domination in an empowerment process… the second goal is ecological: it promotes the conservation of moabi trees by fostering their sustainable management…” (176)

“Inside Bantu forest societies, the gendered division of access to natural resources, work, and ecological knowledge are interrelated and lead to a different perception of moabi scarcity, pushing women to develop specific strategies and mobilizations against the commercial exploitation of moabi… gender specification makes women and men perceive and react differently to market intrusion as well as natural resources depletion.” (176)

Topics: Development, Economies, Environment, Extractive Industries, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Livelihoods, NGOs, Political Economies, Political Participation, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Cameroon

Year: 2010

Citation:

Turner, Terisa E., and M. O. Oshare. 1993. “Women’s Uprising against the Nigerian Oil Industry in the 1980s.” Canadian Journal of Development Studies 14 (3): 329–57. 

Authors: Terisa E. Turner, M. O. Oshare

Abstract:

In the 1980s women attacked oil industry installations and personnel throughout Nigeria. This article considers two revolts: the 1984 Ogharefe women's uprising and the 1986 Ekpan women 's uprising. In the oil centre of Warri where both took place, women do most of the peasant farming but land is controlled by men. The study argues that oil-based industrialization superimposed on this local political economy a new regime which dispossessed women of access to farm land. Women responded by attacking the oil industry with varying degrees of success. The different levels of success are explained by reference to class formation and gender relations in the uprisings themselves. The study concludes by noting the prominent place of women 's initiatives linked to gender solidarity in the success of the exploited classes in struggles with big business and the state.

Annotation:

• The paper argues three things: “1) the uprisings were clashes resulting from class formation spurred by oil based capitalist development; 2) the gender character of the uprisings, the fact that they involved particular class factions of women against specific class factions of men, followed from changes in gender relations that took place in the process of capitalist development; and 3) the degree of success enjoyed by women in their struggles reflects both the extent to which peasant relations persisted or were eroded by proletarianization, and the degree to which men acted in solidarity with women.” (330-31)

Quotes:

“In Nigeria not only did capitalism break up women’s social order but it also created the conditions for resistance. The uprisings are products of capitalist development just as much as is women’s marginalization… support for the objectives of the uprisings, and the organizations and alliances that facilitated them, would contribute to the empowerment of women and of all exploited people. In short, it is suggested that it is through uprisings and the successful consolidation of the social power marshaled through them that women can be empowered” (332)

“The change in gender relations which aids capital in harnessing women to household production of labour is the institution of men as the disciplinarians over women’s work. Men in the state, capitalist men themselves, but most significantly proletarian men are encouraged to define themselves as men with reference to their control over women… resistance by women to this type of capitalist exploitation takes many forms including struggles for better work conditions (electricity, water, schools), the fight for control over fertility… and efforts to get or keep means of survival independent of men” (333)

“The thesis in this study is that capitalist development promotes such a gender realignment and hence the basis for both the transcendence of capitalist relations and the creation of an egalitarian society free from gender exploitation as a condition of freedom from class exploitation. The women’s uprisings of the 1980s against oil companies in Nigeria reveal, if only in faint outline, these patterns and this direction of movement.” (335)

“The state sector expanded dramatically as oil wealth financed infrastructure and some industrialization. Imported fish, chicken, wheat, cloth and other consumer goods undermined indigenous production. This rapid extension of market relations throughout Nigeria encroached on women’s spheres of economic and social power. Land alienation, pollution and the disturbance of fishing grounds, the absence of men who answered the call of the construction boom, labour shortages and high cost of labour, lack of credit and the need for cash… were factors which contribute to most women’s heightened insecurity and marginalization.” (337)

“The women challenged compensation policy and the very concept of compensation for land taken by the state for the oil industry. How, they asked can a way of life be destroyed and ‘compensated’ through the payment of a small sum of money? The women objected to lack of amenities, comparing the privileged western style housing across the fence to their own poverty… They raised the fundamental issue of who benefits from the oil wealth. This tremendous national treasure from their own communal lands was being used to benefit others and in the process their own lives were being destroyed.” (350)

“The women’s uprisings against the oil industry in Nigeria in the mid 1980s confirm the double complexity of capitalism’s denigration and empowerment of women. On the one hand, the extension of exploitation worsened the situations of women. Earlier relative reciprocity between men and women dissipated into intensified sexism… On the other hand, industrialization led to land alienation, which motivated women’s fight back. It elevated women’s political impact by offering them vulnerable oil industry targets against which to concentrate their collective social power.” (354-55)

Topics: Class, Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Multi-National Corporations, Political Economies, Rights, Land Rights, Violence Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Nigeria

Year: 1993

Citation:

Steele, Sarah. 2013. “Human Trafficking, Labor Brokering, and Mining in Southern Africa: Responding to a Decentralized and Hidden Public Health Disaster.” International Journal of Health Services 43 (4): 665–80. doi:10.2190/HS.43.4.e.

Author: Sarah Steele

Abstract:

Many southern African economies are dependent on the extractive industries. These industries rely on low-cost labor, often supplied by migrants, typically acquired through labor brokers. Very little attention has so far been paid to trafficking of men into extractive industries or its connection with trafficked women in the region’s mining hubs. Recent reports suggest that labor brokering practices foster human trafficking, both by exposing migrant men to lack of pay and exploitative conditions and by creating male migratory patterns that generate demand for sex workers and associated trafficking of women and girls. While trafficking in persons violates human rights, and thus remains a priority issue globally, there is little or no evidence of an effective political response to mine-related trafficking in southern Africa. This article concludes with recommendations for legal and policy interventions, as well as an enhanced public health response, which if implemented would help reduce human trafficking toward mining sites.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Health, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Rights, Human Rights, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking Regions: Africa, Southern Africa

Year: 2013

Citation:

Ross, Michael L. 2012. “What’s So Special about the Arabian Peninsula? A Reply to Groh and Rothschild.” Quarterly Journal of Political Science 7 (1): 89–103. doi:10.1561/100.00012004.

Author: Michael L. Ross

Abstract:

My 2008 article suggested that oil wealth, but not Islam, has impeded progress towards gender equality in the Middle East. Groh and Rothschild re-examine one part of my study, which reported a statistical correlation between oil rents and female labor force participation; they argue that the ‘‘deep cultural history’’ of the Arabian Peninsula offers a better explanation for the observed correlations. In this brief reply, I note that they do not accurately describe my conclusions and analysis; that other evidence in the article does not support their argument; and that they have not identified what makes the Arabian Peninsula so different from the rest of the Middle East — apart from its extraordinary oil wealth.

Keywords: women in politics, comparative politics, religion and politics

Topics: Development, Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Multi-National Corporations, Political Participation, Religion, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East

Year: 2012

Citation:

Ross, Michael L. 2012. The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 

Author: Michael L. Ross

Abstract:

Countries that are rich in petroleum have less democracy, less economic stability, and more frequent civil wars than countries without oil. What explains this oil curse? And can it be fixed? In this groundbreaking analysis, Michael L. Ross looks at how developing nations are shaped by their mineral wealth--and how they can turn oil from a curse into a blessing. Ross traces the oil curse to the upheaval of the 1970s, when oil prices soared and governments across the developing world seized control of their countries' oil industries. Before nationalization, the oil-rich countries looked much like the rest of the world; today, they are 50 percent more likely to be ruled by autocrats--and twice as likely to descend into civil war--than countries without oil. The Oil Curse shows why oil wealth typically creates less economic growth than it should; why it produces jobs for men but not women; and why it creates more problems in poor states than in rich ones. It also warns that the global thirst for petroleum is causing companies to drill in increasingly poor nations, which could further spread the oil curse. This landmark book explains why good geology often leads to bad governance, and how this can be changed.

Annotation:

• Size is not as important as source: Cursed states fluctuate and easily hide revenue because it is not based on taxation, in contrast to European states -- Availability of rents means oil-producing states are 30% less reliant on taxes ($6 in Canada vs. $42 in Nigeria)

• MNCs create physical and economic enclaves and use own resources or employ expatriates to live on the oil rigs, creating little to no impact on economic growth for the region

• Defies two trends: wealthier without more democracy or progress toward gender equality

• When women work outside the home, they develop crucial networks, conversations, confidence and income to increase their bargaining power in the household and society. 

• TNOCs are more likely to hire men when it requires strength, expensive training, or domestic markets

• Dutch Disease crowds out manufacturing opportunities, and domestic manufacturers are more likely to employ men

• When oil booms do create jobs, they are usually in the service sector, which is good for women if they can obtain these jobs -- “In countries where women face barriers to working in the service sector, oil wealth is liable to retard their economic, social and political progress” (118)

• Number of working women is 23% lower in oil states (smaller ratio in the rest of the developing world) (120)

• Non-oil states have more export manufacturing jobs

• Oil countries are 50% more likely to have a civil war -- Oil makes governments larger, less accountable, and dominated by men, but cause of civil war is related to citizens (146)

Quotes:

“As countries get richer, women typically gain more opportunities – both economic opportunities in the workplace, and political opportunities to serve in government. Yet this has not occurred in countries that get rich by selling petroleum. The benefits of oil booms usually go to men.” (111)

“The long-run economic success of oil-rich states seems to depend partly on their success in drawing women into the labor force, which reduces fertility rates and the demand for migrant labor, and thus population growth; and partly on the government’s capacity to maintain countercyclical policies that smooth out booms and busts.” (230)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Development, Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Equality/Inequality, Globalization, Governance, Households, Livelihoods, Multi-National Corporations, Political Economies, Political Participation, Religion, Rights, Women's Rights

Year: 2012

Citation:

Ross, Michael L. 2008. “Oil, Islam, and Women.” American Political Science Review 102 (01). doi:10.1017/S0003055408080040.

Author: Michael L. Ross

Abstract:

Women have made less progress toward gender equality in the Middle East than in any other region. Many observers claim this is due to the region’s Islamic traditions. I suggest that oil, not Islam, is at fault; and that oil production also explains why women lag behind in many other countries. Oil production reduces the number of women in the labor force, which in turn reduces their political influence. As a result, oil-producing states are left with atypically strong patriarchal norms, laws, and political institutions. I support this argument with global data on oil production, female work patterns, and female political representation, and by comparing oil-rich Algeria to oil-poor Morocco and Tunisia. This argument has implications for the study of the Middle East, Islamic culture, and the resource curse.

Annotation:

Quotes:

“Oil production affects gender relations by reducing the presence of women in the labor force. The failure of women to join the nonagricultural labor force has profound social consequences: it leads to higher fertility rates, less education for girls, and less female influence within the family. It also has far-reaching political consequences: when fewer women work outside the home, they are less likely to exchange information and overcome collective action problems; less likely to mobilize politically, and to lobby for expanded rights; and less likely to gain representation in government. This leaves oil-producing states with atypically strong patriarchal cultures and political institutions.” (107)

“When labor markets are segregated by gender, and women have little political power, how can they enter the work force in large numbers? Since the early days of the industrial revolution, the answer has often come from the development of low-wage export-oriented industries, especially in textiles, garments, and processed agricultural goods… Factories are even more likely to employ women when they export their products. Several studies show that even within a single industry, export-oriented firms employ women at a higher rate than do similar firms that produce goods for domestic markets (Başlevent and Onaran 2004; Ozler 2000).” (108)

“Women have better political representation in countries that have little or no oil, in five the seven categories of states: high and low income, Middle East, Islamic, and all states. This is striking since oil-rich countries have higher incomes than the oil-poor states within each category of stages, which would suggest higher, not lower, female representation.” (114)

“Islam has no statistically significant effect on any of the dependent variables in the fully specified models. This implies that some measures of female status in the Middle East can be partly explained by the region’s oil wealth, but not by its Islamic culture or traditions. This is not true of all dimensions of female status: measures of female education—–including adult literacy, primary school enrollment and the ratio between enrolled girls and boys—–are negatively correlated with Islam, and seem to be unaffected by Oil Rents.” (115)

“The gains in the oil-rich states have been slower than the gains in oil-poor states: between 1995 and 2002, oil-poor states (< $100 per capita in oil rents) had a 5% increase in the number of female representatives, whereas oil-rich states (> $100 per capita in oil rents) had only a 2.9% increase.” (116)

“Although they [Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia] are otherwise similar [French colonies, independence at same time, quick suffrage, Muslim], they have different levels of oil wealth… they also have different levels of female political representation… Morocco and Tunisia now have the two highest rates of female labor force participation in the world.” (118-9)

“When economic growth is the result of industrialization—–particularly the type of export- oriented manufacturing that draws women into the labor force—–it should also bring about the changes in gender relations that we associate with modernization. But income that comes from oil extraction often fails to produce industrialization—–and can even discourage industrialization by causing the Dutch Disease.” (120)

“… Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Syria, and Mexico. The first three countries are probably exceptions to the general pattern because of reasons implied by the model: since women already had a large presence in the nontraded sector (thanks to the size and diversification of these economies), rising oil exports did not crowd them out of the labor market. The two Central Asian states were strongly affected by many years of Soviet rule, which promoted the role of women through administrative fiat; this may have inoculated them against oil-induced patriarchy.” (121)

Topics: Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Equality/Inequality, Livelihoods, Political Economies, Political Participation, Religion, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, MENA, Asia, Middle East

Year: 2008

Citation:

Rørbaek, Lasse Lykke. 2013. “Repression of Women’s Rights: A Note on Islamic Culture and Oil Rents.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Danish Political Science Association, Vejle, October 24-25. 

Author: Lasse Lykke Rørbaek

Abstract:

In recent studies, Michael L. Ross states that oil rents and not Islamic culture is to blame for women’s slow progress toward gender equality in the Muslim world. He tests and confirms this relationship concerning female labor force participation and female representation in parliament. Ross’ conclusion has, however, been criticized for neglecting the pre-existing and institutionalized role of “family law” derived from Sharia, which continuously impedes the progress of women’s human rights in Muslim countries. In this study, I retest Ross’ argument on three aggregate indicators of women’s political, economic, and social rights. Based on data from 163 countries, I conclude – contrary to Ross – that Islamic culture is consistently associated with repression of women’s rights in the 21th century, and not only in the Middle East and North Africa.

Topics: Economies, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Livelihoods, Political Participation, Religion, Rights, Women's Rights

Year: 2013

Citation:

Oluduro, Olubayo, and Ebenezer Durojaye. 2013. “The Implications of Oil Pollution for the Enjoyment of Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Women in Niger Delta Area of Nigeria.” The International Journal of Human Rights 17 (7-8): 772–95. doi:10.1080/13642987.2013.835911.

Authors: Olubayo Oluduro, Ebenezer Durojaye

Abstract:

Oil is a major source of income for Nigeria and it is the mainstay of the country’s economy. Nigeria’s intensive oil sector accounts for nearly 40% of its gross domestic product, but declined steadily to an average of 14.71% of the country’s total export between 2006 and 2011; and contributed about 80% of budgetary revenues that all tiers of government heavily depend on. Oil spills and gas flaring are some of the effects of the unregulated exploratory activities of the oil multinational companies that have contributed immensely to the physical and mental illness of the local inhabitants of the Niger Delta region and violated most of their rights as guaranteed under international and regional human rights instruments and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) 1999. In view of the growing threats to human health and the environment (posed by human activities), the international community has agreed to a number of treaties to respond to the health and human rights challenges posed by environmental degradation. Although Nigeria is a party to most of these instruments, it has done little or nothing to regulate the conduct of the oil companies that negatively impact on the health of the Niger Delta people. While the impact of oil extraction affects both men and women, the article focuses on its implications for women’s reproductive well-being. This is because women are a disadvantaged and marginalised group and have continued to experience discriminatory practices in many parts of the country, including the Niger Delta area. The article discusses the health challenges associated with oil exploitation in the Niger Delta, paying attention to the position of women. It then proffers suggestions on measures and steps that could be taken by the Nigerian government and other stakeholders in ensuring the adequate protection of the health rights of local inhabitants.

Keywords: oil, exploitation, health, Niger Delta, women

Topics: Development, Economies, Environment, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Governance, Health, Mental Health, Reproductive Health, Livelihoods, Multi-National Corporations, Political Economies, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Nigeria

Year: 2013