Central America

Citation:

Lastarria-Cornhiel, Susana. 2005. "Gender and Property Rights within Postconflict Situations." Working Paper 12, United States Agency for International Development, Washington, DC.

Author: Susana Lastarria-Cornhiel

Abstract:

This paper provides an assessment of the nature of women’s property rights in regions plagued by violent conflict, reviews property rights programs funded by donors in postconflict situations, and attempts to tease out major policy and programmatic lessons. It also examines the importance of land rights and the status of women in societies that have strong customary norms and practices regarding land tenure. After exploring issues around the acquisition of land rights by women, the paper presents case studies of gendered rights to land under different types of postconflict situations, focusing on policies and programs for improving women’s land rights. Policy and programmatic recommendations are offered for improving gender equity in postconflict land tenure systems. 

In many regions of the world, households, communities, and societies are destroyed by civil war, invasions from neighboring countries, and interethnic violence. During periods of violence and conflict, the destruction of material and physical resources is devastating for families and communities, particularly for low-income populations. The destruction, however, goes beyond the material and physical. Community cohesion, governance institutions, community authority structures, and socioeconomic subsistence networks are also destroyed, leaving the most vulnerable—such as women and children—destitute and with minimal recourse for even their daily survival. Often families flee the violence and destruction to other parts of their countries or to other countries, leaving most of their belongings and assets behind.

The process of rebuilding communities’ social structures and institutions is slow and uneven. Nevertheless, the restoration of civil and human rights to all groups—including women—is the basis for rebuilding a democratic postconflict society. Land and housing make up one crucial set of rights. Property rights are recognized as an important factor in the struggle to attain economic development, social equity, and democratic governance (e.g., Herring 1999). As cultural heritage and a productive resource, the value and meaning of land is universally recognized. Its social and psychological values for rural families are also important. The challenge is to improve social equity while working for peace, security, and reconstruction. But peace must be understood as more than the absence of war and violence; reconstruction must be seen as more than bricks, roads, and telephone networks; and security must be defined as more than a strong military force.

The international community has begun to acknowledge the link among women’s lack of rights to landed property and increased levels of poverty among women, particularly in postconflict societies. The UN’s Habitat Centre brought attention to this crucial issue in 1998 by commissioning a number of papers and holding an international conference on Women’s Land and Property Rights under Situations of Conflict (UN Habitat 1999). However, only limited progress has been made in strengthening women’s rights to landed property. Women are consistently excluded from postconflict reconstruction efforts. They are thus unable to ensure that their interests are addressed. Gender-biased laws remain the primary barrier to secure land rights in many countries. Even where women have legal entitlement to ownership, they continue to be denied land rights, primarily for cultural and political reasons. (Executive Summary from original source)

Keywords: Gender, gender equity, post-conflict reconstruction, women's rights, Property Rights

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Land Tenure, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Americas, Central America, Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Guatemala, Rwanda

Year: 2005

Citation:

Mollett, Sharlene. 2010. "Está listo (Are you ready)? Gender, Race and Land Registration in the Río Plántano Biosphere Reserve.” Gender, Place and Culture 17 (3): 357-375.

Author: Sharlene Mollett

Abstract:

Geographers and political ecologists are paying increased attention to the ways in which conservation policies disrupt indigenous customary tenure arrangements. However, much less attention is given to the particular ways protected area management shapes natural resource access for indigenous women. With this in mind, this article examines how a recently proposed state land project in Honduras, Catastro y Regularización, requires that Miskito residents individuate collective family lands in the interests of 'sustainable development' and 'biodiversity protection'. In the debates that followed the project's announcement, Miskito women feared that such measures would erase their customary access to family lands. As the state's project seeks to re-order Reserve land, intra-Miskito struggles intensified among villagers. Such struggles are not only gendered but are shaped by longstanding processes of racialization in Honduras and the Mosquitia region. Drawing upon ethnographic research, I argue that Miskito women's subjectivity and rights to customary family holdings are informed by their ability to make 'patriarchal bargains' with Miskito men inside the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve. Such findings suggest that scholars and policy makers continue to reflect on the ways global conservation and sustainable development practices may undermine indigenous customary tenure securities, whether intentionally or not.

Keywords: indigenous peoples, gender, land registration, protected areas, racialization

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Land Tenure, Race, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: Honduras

Year: 2010

Citation:

Deere, Carmen Diana, and Magdalena Leon. 1997. “Women and Land Rights in the Latin American Neo-Liberal Counter-Reforms.” Working Paper #264, Michigan State University, Lansing.

Authors: Carmen Diana Deere, Magdalena Leon

Abstract:

Rural women did not fare very well in the land reforms carried out during the Latin American "reformist period" of the 1960s and 1970s, with women being under-represented among the beneficiaries. This paper investigates the extent to which women have gained or lost access to land during the "counter-reforms" of the 1980s and 1990s.  Under the neo-liberal agenda, production cooperatives as well as communal access to land have largely been undermined in favor of privatization and the individual parcelization of collectives. Significant land titling efforts are also being carried out throughout the region to promote the development of a vigorous land market.

Nonetheless, this latter period has also been characterized by the growth of the feminist movement throughout Latin America and a growing commitment by states to gender equity. This paper reviews the extent to which rural women's access to land has potentially been enhanced by recent changes in agrarian and legal codes. Colombia and Costa Rica are found to be the leaders in gender-equitable legislation.  The Mexican neo-liberal counter-reform is found to be the retrograde in the region. The case studies include Chile, Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Colombia. 

Topics: Economies, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Americas, Central America, South America Countries: Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru

Year: 1997

Citation:

Arenas, Carlos, and Shelly Grabe. 2009. “Promoting Gender Equality Through Development: Land Ownership and Domestic Violence in Nicaragua.” Working Paper, Gender, Development, and Globalization Program, Center for Gender in Global Context, Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Authors: Carlos Arenas, Shelly Grabe

Abstract:

This study takes into account global debates surrounding women’s role in development and how access to resources impacts the structures that perpetuate gender inequalities. For example, scholars have argued that women’s ownership of and control over resources are linked to gender-based violence. This paper provides a theoretical framework for, and an examination of, the role of land ownership in women’s empowerment and receipt of domestic violence that has been posed in the literature but never empirically tested. Household surveys conducted in rural Nicaragua reveal that land ownership is directly related to women’s status and power within the marital relationship and to their empowerment and psychological well-being, each of which explained why and how owning land contributed to lower levels of domestic violence. The findings have important implications for the discussion of gender-based violence in the context of development involving land resources, as well as for initiatives that can improve women’s well-being and lead to more equitable policies for women.

Keywords: development, domestic violence, gender empowerment, gender relations, women's land rights, gender violence

Annotation:

• Bina Agarwal (1994) first put forward the connection between property ownership and domestic violence, but since then, very little empirical investigation has been done to advance this research. This paper investigates how women’s land ownership is related to domestic violence and how it is not simply about owning land, rather it is the process that develops as a result of women’s altered status within the household that has the critical bearing on their receipt of violence.
• The article is significant both because it is the only paper on land rights and domestic violence with a geographic focus of Latin America, and because it contributes to our empirical understanding of the connection between women’s land rights and incidence of domestic violence.
• Systemic differences in land rights between men and women create structural inequalities that may contribute to the alarmingly high rates of domestic violence for women. It discusses how women’s land ownership challenges power and gender relations.

Quotes:

“[The authors] specifically aimed to test whether land ownership would result in a shift in traditional gender ideology, a shift in intra-household gender relations, and an increase in women’s empowerment and psychological well-being, thereby curbing levels of domestic violence.” (2)

“Processes involved in owning and controlling land can transform the conditions in which women can exercise agency and, in turn, be empowered to confront aspects of their subordination.” (2)

“Throughout Latin America, and in Nicaragua in particular, domestic violence has been recognized as a public health problem with national prevalence estimates indicating that between 28 and 69 percent of women in Nicaragua report experiences of domestic violence.” (1)

“Land issues—who owns and controls land use—are issues of power and dominance [and] entrenched inequalities in the distribution of power and resources between women and men create a risk environment that supports high levels of gender-based violence”(3)

"Argues that land ownership is a material basis, or structural inequality, that contributes to the subordination of, and violence against, women. Women’s role as landowners therefore challenges these gendered power relations." (3)

"Because ownership of property among women substantially challenges traditional gender roles, it increases women’s power and influence within the household and, in turn, provides a stronger base for women’s empowerment. Moreover, it is not merely possessing the title to a plot of land, but the control or administration of it that contributes to change." (4)

“While benefits of several forms of land ownership are possible (e.g., cooperative farming arrangements), it is important to note that women’s effective rights to land (i.e., women functioning independently as decision makers with control over the land) are best insured with individual titles.” (4)

Topics: Development, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Households, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: Nicaragua

Year: 2009

Citation:

Vázquez, Norma. 1999. Refugee and Returnee Women: Skills Acquired in Exile and their Application in Peacetime. Washington, DC: International Center for Research on Women.

Author: Norma Vázquez

Abstract:

The large number of displaced and refugee women in El Salvador is a direct result of the government's indiscriminate repression of the country's poor, peasant population during the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, many people who feared for their lives were forced to flee the country. The women who spent most of the war in the Colomoncagua and Mesa Grande refugee camps in Honduras recall their experience as a catalyst for important life changes. The refugee camps, established in response to a humanitarian disaster, turned women's lives upside down, lives that had been characterized by isolation, exclusive dedication to household chores and care of the family, and strict compliance with a moral code based on obedience to masculine authority. Besieged by both the Honduran and the Salvadoran armies, but supported by a number of international and national organizations, refugee women developed abilities in the public realm that they had never before needed for their survival. Despite these advances, the women never questioned their traditional role in the home during their time in the camps, or during repatriation. New activities were simply integrated with old responsibilities. Somewhat paradoxically, the women have come to view the changes that occurred during the time of exile in a positive light, and to think of the return to El Salvador and onset of peace as events that--while important and desirable--made them take a step backward on the road to empowerment. The experience of women throughout the war-asylum-repatriation-peace cycle forms a kind of kaleidoscope, characterized by nostalgia for what they learned and experienced while in the camps, and by simultaneous recognition that peace and freedom are basic rights that are inherent to any long-term of social transformation.

Annotation:

Quotes:

“On their return to El Salvador...the women took with them the communal systems of education, medical care, and production that had enabled them to be self-sufficient in the resettlement camps. This process of adopting new systems was critical because, upon returning to El Salvador, the women no longer had the support of the international organizations that had guaranteed their survival in the refugee camps.” (6)

“It became clear that following repatriation, women had lost their new roles and reverted to traditionally submissive lives.” (6)

Topics: Class, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Households, International Organizations, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: El Salvador

Year: 1999

Citation:

Rapone, Anita, and Charles R. Simpson. 1996. "Women's Response to Violence in Guatemala: Resistance and Rebuilding." International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 10 (1): 115-40.

Authors: Anita Rapone, Charles R. Simpson

Topics: Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Political Participation, Violence Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: Guatemala

Year: 1996

Citation:

Ward, Jeanne. 2002. If Not Now, When? Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Refugee, Internally Displaced, and Post-Conflict Settings: A Global Overview. New York: The Reproductive Health for Refugees Consortium.  

Author: Jeanne Ward

Keywords: gender violence, refugee, displacement, post-conflict, human trafficking

Annotation:

This report addresses gender-based violence (GBV) in refugee, internally displaced, and post-conflict settings through twelve country profiles: three each for Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The profiles include background information, GBV issues, GBV-related programming, and recommendations. The report focuses almost exclusively on violence against women and girls, and human trafficking is one of the main issues discussed. 

Topics: Displacement & Migration, IDPs, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Reproductive Health, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Sexual Violence, SV against Women, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Violence Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Americas, Central America, South America, Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe, South Caucasus, Oceania Countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Colombia, Congo-Brazzaville, Guatemala, Kosovo, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Thailand, Timor-Leste

Year: 2002

Citation:

Taylor, Matthew, Michelle Moran-Taylor, and Debra Rodman Ruiz. 2006. "Land, Ethnic, and Gender Change: Transnational Migration and its Effects on Guatemalan Lives and Landscapes." Geoforum 37: 41-61.

Authors: Matthew Taylor, Michelle Moran-Taylor, Debra Rodman Ruiz

Abstract:

Migration to the United States of America from Guatemala effects many aspects of Guatemalan life. We document, through extensive ethnographic fieldwork, how migrants and their remittances effect gender relations, ethnicity, land use, and land distribution. Our evidence is drawn from research in four communities. San Pedro Pinula and Gualan represent communities of eastern Guatemala. San Cristóbal Totonicapan is an Indigenous town in Guatemala’s western highlands, and San Lucas is a lowland frontier community in the Guatemalan department of Ixcan, which borders Chiapas, Mexico. Our results reveal that migrants and their remittances, both social and tangible, result in significant changes in land use and land distribution in Ixcan. Migrant money permits the conversion of rainforest into cattle pasture and also results in the accumulation of land in the hands of migrants. In terms of land use, we see in San Pedro Pinula that migrant money also allows the Pokoman Maya to make small entries into the Ladino (non-indigenous) dominated cattle business. In San Pedro Pinula, the migration and return of Maya residents also permits them to slowly challenge ethnic roles that have developed over the last five centuries. When we look at how migration effects gender roles in Gualan and San Cristóbal we also note that migration and social remittances permit a gradual challenge and erosion of traditional gender roles in Guatemala. We point out, however, that migration-related changes to traditional gender and ethnic roles is gradual because migrants, despite their increased earnings and awareness, run into a social structure that resists rapid change. This is not the case when we examine land transformations in Ixcan. Here, migrants encounter few barriers when they attempt to put their new money and ideas to work. Despite the advantages that migration brings to many families, especially in the face of a faltering national economy and state inactivity regarding national development, we conclude that migration and remittances do not result in community or nation-wide development. At this stage migrant remittances are used for personal advancement and very little money and effort is invested in works that benefit communities or neighborhoods. We call for continued studies of the effects of international migration on Guatemalan hometowns that build on our initial studies to better understand the longer-term ramifications of migration in a country where no community is without migrants.

Keywords: migration, land transformation, gender transformation

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Gender, Gender Roles, Indigenous, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: Guatemala

Year: 2006

Citation:

Luciak, Ilja A., Stephen Lynn, Serena Cosgrove, and Kelly Ready. 2000. "Aftermath: Women's Organizations in Post-conflict El Salvador." Working Paper 309, Center for Development Information and Evaluation, U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC.

Authors: IIja A. Luciak, Stephen Lynn, Serena Cosgrove, Kelly Ready

Keywords: post-conflict, women's organizations, recovery, reconstruction, governance

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Governance, NGOs, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: El Salvador

Year: 2000

Citation:

Luciak, IIjia A. 2001. After the Revolution: Gender and Democracy in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Author: Iljia A. Luciak

Topics: Gender, Women, Political Participation, Post-Conflict, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua

Year: 2001