Land Grabbing

Citation:

Faxon, Hilary, Roisin Furlong, and May Sabe Phyu. 2015. “Reinvigorating Resilience: Violence against Women, Land Rights, and the Women’s Peace Movement in Myanmar.” Gender & Development 23 (3): 463–79.

Authors: Hilary Faxon, Roisin Furlong, May Sabe Phyu

Abstract:

In Myanmar, movements for gender justice strive to foster personal and collective security, vibrant livelihoods, and political engagement during a period of rapid and uncertain transition. This article draws from the experience of the Gender Equality Network (GEN), a coalition of over 100 organisations in Myanmar. It examines three cases in which GEN sought to document existing forms of resilience and expand these mechanisms through national-level advocacy. The first describes current attempts to publicise, and eventually eliminate, violence against women (VAW). VAW is a fundamental threat to personal safety, but also to the principle of societal accountability – that is, the extent to which society upholds the interests and rights of women and girls. The second focuses on women's (lack of) access to natural resources and economic decision-making, drawing on gender-focused input into the National Land Use Policy. Finally, we examine the impacts of conflict on women's resilience, and women's increasing participation in the peace process. In all three cases, effective mobilisation and networking not only increased female political voice, but also enabled creation of a more resilient democracy by modelling effective policy, research, advocacy, and communication strategies.

Keywords: Gender, violence against women, gender-based violence, land rights, peace, conflict, Myanmar, Burma, resilience

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Land Grabbing, Peace Processes, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Myanmar

Year: 2015

Citation:

Daley, Elizabeth, and Sabine Pallas. 2014. “Women and Land Deals in Africa and Asia: Weighing the Implications and Changing the Game.” Feminist Economics 20 (1): 178–201.

Authors: Elizabeth Daley, Sabine Pallas

Abstract:

Large-scale land deals have attracted much attention from media and policymakers, and several international initiatives are attempting to regulate and address the impacts of such deals. Little attention has been paid to the gendered implications of such deals in the literature, and most regulatory initiatives do not address gender adequately. To fill this gap, this contribution identifies implications of land deals for women and recommends measures to mitigate negative impacts. It reviews evidence from four case studies commissioned for the International Land Coalition (ILC) Global Study of Commercial Pressures on Land conducted in 2010. The evidence is analyzed within a framework that posits women's vulnerability to land deals as due to four dimensions of underlying discrimination. This study analyzes three of these dimensions in depth, arguing that women are likely to be affected differently by land deals and disproportionately more likely to be negatively affected than men.

Keywords: women, land, rural economic development, Gender

Topics: Development, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights

Year: 2014

Citation:

Doss, Cheryl, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Allan Bomuhangi. 2014. “Who Owns the Land? Perspectives from Rural Ugandans and Implications for Large-Scale Land Acquisitions.” Feminist Economics 20 (1): 76–100.

Authors: Cheryl Doss, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Allan Bomuhangi

Abstract:

Rapidly growing demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property-rights systems, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where customary tenure systems have provided secure land access. Rapid and large-scale demands from outsiders are challenging patterns of gradual, endogenous change toward formalization. Little attention has focused on the gender dimensions of this transformation. However this contribution, based on a 2008–09 study of land tenure in Uganda, analyzes how different definitions of land ownership – including household reports, existence of ownership documents, and rights over the land – provide very different indications of the gendered patterns of land ownership and rights. While many households report husbands and wives as joint owners of the land, women are less likely to be listed on ownership documents, and have fewer rights. A simplistic focus on “title” to land misses much of the reality regarding land tenure and could have an adverse impact on women's land rights.

Keywords: Gender, land aquisition, land ownership, tenure security, land tenure, Uganda

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Households, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2013

Citation:

Wisborg, Poul. 2013. “Transnational Land Deals and Gender Equality: Utilitarian and Human Rights Approaches.” Feminist Economics 20 (1): 24–51.

Author: Poul Wisborg

Abstract:

Transnational land deals pose vexing normative (ethical) questions, not least concerning gendered participation and outcomes. This article explores utilitarian and human rights approaches to gender equality in selected policy initiatives on the land deals. While global policy literature manifests growing attention to women in agriculture, the review found the analysis of gender in early policy initiatives to be absent or weak. Utilitarian arguments were used to justify deals but rarely presented women's participation as a means of social progress or so-called smart economics. Human rights documents were more likely to be critical of the deals and to mention gender, though with little elaboration. While to some extent amended by the emphasis on gender equality in the 2012 Voluntary Guidelines on tenure governance, failures to mobilize the feminist potential in utilitarian and human rights approaches call for more proactive gender analysis and advocacy when addressing transnational land deals as gendered power struggles.

Keywords: equality, ethics, Gender, human rights, land, policy

Topics: Economies, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Grabbing, Rights, Human Rights, Land Rights

Year: 2013

Citation:

Fonjong, Lotsmart, Irene Sama-Lang, Lawrence Fombe, and Christiana Abonge. 2016. “Land Governance and Women’s Rights in Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Cameroon.” Development in Practice 26 (4): 420–30. doi:10.1080/09614524.2016.1162285.

Authors: Lotsmart Fonjong, Irene Sama-Lang, Lawrence Fombe, Christiana Abonge

Abstract:

Keywords: aid, accountability, Gender, diversity, governace, public policy, Rights, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Gender, Women, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Cameroon

Year: 2016

Citation:

Kabeer, Naila. 2009. ‘Women’s Control over Economic Resources and Access to Financial Resources, Including Microfinance: 2009 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development’. United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women.  

Author: Naila Kabeer

Topics: Development, Economies, Education, Gender, Women, Girls, Boys, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Health, Infrastructure, Land Grabbing, Livelihoods, Security

Year: 2009

Relevant Links: World Survey 2009 link

Citation:

Anseeuw, Ward, Liz Alden Wily, Lorenzo Cotula, and M. Taylor. 2012. Land Rights and the Rush for Land. Rome, Italy: International Land Coalition (ILC).

Authors: Ward Anseeuw, Liz Alden Wily, Lorenzo Cotula, Taylor Michael

Abstract:

The land and resource rights and livelihoods of rural communities are being put in jeopardy by the prevailing model of large-scale land acquisition.

Topics: Civil Society, Economies, Economic Inequality, Gender, Women, Men, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Constitutions, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights Regions: Americas, Central America, South America

Year: 2012

Relevant Links: Spanish version available here

Citation:

Anseeuw, Ward, Liz Alden Wily, Lorenzo Cotula, and M. Taylor. 2012. Los derechos a la tierra y la fiebre por ella: hallazgos del Proyecto de Investigación Global Presiones Comerciales sobre la Tierra. Rome, Italy: International Land Coalition (ILC).

Authors: Ward Anseeuw, Liz Alden Wily, Lorenzo Cotula, Taylor Michael

Abstract:

Los derechos a la tierra y los recursos y los medios de vida de las comunidades rurales están cada vez más en peligro por la prevalencia de un modelo de adquisiciones de tierra de gran escala.

Topics: Civil Society, Economies, Economic Inequality, Gender, Women, Men, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Constitutions, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights Regions: Americas, Central America, South America

Year: 2012

Relevant Links: English version available here

Citation:

Deere, Carmen Diana, Susana Lastarria-Cornhiel, and Claudia Ranaboldo. 2011. Women’s Land: Reflections on Rural Women’s Access to Land in Latin America. Translated by Sara Shields. La Paz, Bolivia: Fundación Tierra.

Authors: Carmen Diana Deere, Susana Lastarria-Cornhiel, Claudia Ranaboldo

Annotation:

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Indigenous, Land Grabbing, Livelihoods, Political Participation, Rights, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Food Security Regions: Americas, Central America, South America

Year: 2011

Relevant Links: Spanish version available here

Citation:

Daley, Elizabeth. 2010. Gendered Impacts of Commercial Pressures on Land. Rome: International Land Coalition.

Author: Elizabeth Daley

Abstract:

This paper contains a careful and focused analysis of the gendered impacts of commercial pressures on land (CPL), and especially their impacts on women. It is based on a review of the literature on CPL to date and an analysis from a gender perspective of International Land Coalition country case studies carried out in India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Zambia, Rwanda and Benin. Arguing that women are both likely to be affected differently from men by large-scale land deals and disproportionately more likely to be negatively affected than men because they are generally vulnerable as a group, the paper provides recommendations as to how tools and procedures envisaged by proposed regulatory frameworks must be locally appropriate and must specifically address all four aspects of women’s vulnerability with respect to CPL: productive resources, participation in decision-making, relative income poverty and physical vulnerability. (International Land Coalition)

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Grabbing, Multi-National Corporations, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, SV against Women, Violence Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Benin, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Zambia

Year: 2010