Land Tenure

Gender Equality and Land Administration: The Case of Zambia

Citation:

Spichiger, Rachel, and Edna Kabala. 2014. “Gender Equality and Land Administration: The Case of Zambia.” DIIS Working Paper 4, Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Copenhagen.

Authors: Rachel Spichiger, Edna Kabala

Abstract:

Land, and in particular agricultural land, is central to livelihoods in rural Zambia. Zambia is characterised by a dual legal system of customary and statutory law and by dual land tenure, with state land and customary land. A first wave of socialist-oriented reforms took place after independence in 1964, which abolished previously existing freehold land in favour of lease-hold. Subsequent changes in government policies under the influence of structural adjustment programmes and a new government in 1991 paved the way for a market-driven land reform. The 1995 Lands Act introduced the privatization of land in Zambia and provided for the conversion of customary into state land, with the hope of attracting investors. However, the Act has been unevenly implemented, at least in rural areas, in part due to problems plaguing the land administration institutions and their work, in part due to opposition to the main tenets of the Act from chiefs, the population and civil society. Civil society, with donor support, calls for more attention towards women’s precarious situations with regard to access to and ownership of land under customary tenure, but it still expresses a desire for customary tenure to remain. However, civil society also recognizes that customary practices are often also discriminatory towards women who depend on male relatives for access to land.
 
A gender policy, passed in 2000, and two subsequent draft land policies tried to address women’s lack of access to land by stipulating that 30% of the land should be allocated to women. What has been the role of donors in these developments? Both on the government’s side and for civil society, NGOs and donor agencies, gender has increasingly come to the fore. Donors have certainly pushed for policies and changes in legislation. In particular, the recent Anti Gender-Based Violence Act has been hailed as a huge step for gender equality, and was heavily supported by donors. The land sector, however, does not receive much donor support. While it is notable that donors (e.g. USAID and the World Bank) supported the process leading to the 1995 Lands Act, no donor supported gender issues within that sector in that period. Some donors do take issues related to women’s access to land into account within their agricultural programmes or through their work on democracy and governance, however. Over the last five years, several programmes implemented by NGOs (national and international) and civil-society organisations have focused entirely on women’s land rights. Despite registering some positive outcomes, especially in areas of knowledge and capacity-building, these programmes have met some challenges. Apart from technical and financial issues, it was observed that changes with regard to land tenure are slow to be institutionalised, if at all, and that mechanisms to enhance the accountability of land administrators on both customary and state land are lacking. These initiatives are taking place against a changing background, as Zambia is now at an important juncture at the policy and legal levels, with attempts to codify customary law and to take steps to strengthen tenure security on customary land. How and when this will be done, and how this codified customary law will be enforced, as well as what impact it will have on women remains to be seen. What is also uncertain is what impact this will have on current policies that are under review (e.g. gender and land policies) and the direction that will be taken with regard to issues of tenure security for women living under customary tenure. Whether and, if so, to what extent donors will adopt a defining role in these coming endeavours is not yet clear, especially in a changing aid landscape, since several donor agencies have now withdrawn from Zambia. 

Topics: Civil Society, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Governance, Livelihoods, NGOs, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zambia

Year: 2014

Gender and Land Tenure in the Context of Disaster in Asia

Citation:

Kusakabe, Kyoko, Rajendra Shrestha, and Veena N., eds. 2015. Gender and Land Tenure in the Context of Disaster in Asia. Vol. 21. SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace. Heidelberg: Springer.
 

Authors: Kyoko Kusakabe, Rajendra Shrestha, Veena N.

Keywords: Asia, disaster, gender, land tenure, Post-disaster Policies, gender roles, land rights, vulnerability

Annotation:

Summary: 
This book explores an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of gender and development studies, disaster and land tenure policy. It is well known that women generally have weaker claims to land. But how does that translate to increased vulnerability during disaster? Using case studies from Asia, this book argues that land tenure is a key factor in mitigating the impact of disasters on women. The scale and frequency of disasters have been increasing in recent decades due to human impact on the landscape and climate. Unsustainable farming and land management systems have increased environmental risks and social vulnerabilities. However, around the world the costs of disasters are disproportionately borne by women, due largely to their reduced mobility and lack of control over assets. In post-disaster settings, women’s vulnerabilities increase due to gendered rescue and rehabilitation practices. As such, a gendered approach to land rights is critical to disaster preparedness and recovery. (Summary from Springer)
 
Table of Contents:
1. Gender and Land Tenure in the Context of Disaster
Veena N. and Kyoto Kusakabe
 
2. Gender Impact of Large-Scale Deforestation and Oil Palm Plantations Among Indigenous Groups in Sarawak, Malaysia. 
Carol Yong and Wee Aik Pang
 
3. Displacing Women, Resettling Families: Impact of Landslides on Women's Land Tenure Rights in Sri Lanka 
Subhangi M.K. Herath
 
4. Impact of Flash Floods on a Matrilineal Society in West Sumatra, Indonesia 
Yonariza and Mahdi
 
5. Urbanization and Disaster: Loss of Women's Property Ownership in Leh, Ladakh
Bhuvaneswari Raman
 
6. A Coir Mill of Their Own: Women's Agency in Post-tsunami Sri Lanka 
Ramanie Jayatilaka
 
7. Gender, Land Tenure, and Disasters in the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia
Carol Yong, Frans R. Siahaan and Andreas Burghofer

 

Topics: Development, Environment, Climate Change, Environmental Disasters, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Indigenous, Land Tenure, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights Regions: Asia

Year: 2015

The Politics of Property: Gender, Land and Political Authority in Solomon Islands

Citation:

Monson, Rebecca. 2017. “The Politics of Property: Gender, Land and Political Authority in Solomon Islands.” In Kastom, Property and Ideology: Land Transformations in Melanesia, edited by Siobhan McDonnell, Matthew G. Allen, and Colin Filer, 383-404. Canberra: ANU Press.

Author: Rebecca Monson

Annotation:

Summary: 
"This chapter links questions about social differentiation in land relations in Solomon Islands to debates about gender inequality in the exercise of formal political authority. I demonstrate that, although land tenure is dynamic and contested, different people are differently positioned to influence the outcomes of negotiations over land. In particular, once contests over land enter the arenas established by the state, it is primarily male leaders—often referred to as ‘chiefs’—who perform, endorse and reject claims to land as property. While the dominance of senior men in these arenas is often perceived by foreign observers as rooted in ‘customary’ ideas about ‘who may talk’ about land matters, I suggest that it is also linked to long-term processes of colonial intrusion, missionisation, and capitalist models of development" (Monson 2017, 385). 

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Development, Economies, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Oceania Countries: Solomon Islands

Year: 2017

Women’s Land Rights and Working Conditions in Large-Scale Plantations in Sub-Saharan Africa

Citation:

Fonjong, Lotsmart. 2016. “Women’s Land Rights and Working Conditions in Large-Scale Plantations in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Africa Development 41 (3): 49–69.

Author: Lotsmart Fonjong

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
Women’s land rights are fundamental for women’s economic empowerment. Increasingly, the nationalization of customary land and the current growth in private land ownership and commercial farming are exerting strong pressure on land and are a threat to women’s usufruct land rights. The discourse over land reforms in most poor African countries like Cameroon is embedded in the evolutionary models where customary landholding systems are changing into state land ownership with greater market integration. These changes are taking place within limited state protection of communal and women’s land rights in the process of land registration. This article discusses the evolution, actors and activities involved in large-scale land acquisitions in the sub region within the framework and women’s rights to land and working conditions in the plantations. Through simple mapping from an in-depth desktop review and some level of field observations and conversations with some of the actors involved in affected localities in Cameroon, the article highlights women’s experiences as customary communal land is transferred into private ownership. In fact, wherever land has been taken up for plantation agriculture, women’s access to land has reduced, making them more vulnerable to hunger, poverty and poor working conditions. This is because women’s land rights have not evolved with the customary evolution into private tenures. Current processes of large-scale land acquisitions should therefore create conditions for women’s participation through a fair degree of equal opportunities, transparency, and accountability to communities, and relevant institutions.
 
FRENCH ABSTRACT: 
Les droits fonciers des femmes sont fondamentaux pour leur autonomisation économique. De plus en plus, la nationalisation des terres coutumières et la croissance actuelle de la propriété foncière privée et de l’agriculture commerciale exercent une forte pression sur les terres et constituent une menace pour les droits d’usufruit fonciers des femmes. Le discours sur les réformes foncières dans la plupart des pays africains pauvres comme le Cameroun s’inscrit dans les modèles évolutifs où les systèmes fonciers coutumiers se transforment en propriété foncière étatique avec une plus grande intégration du marché. Ces changements se produisent dans le cadre d’une protection limitée de l’État sur les droits communaux et les droits fonciers des femmes dans le processus d’enregistrement foncier. Le présent article traite de l’évolution, des acteurs et des activités en matière d’acquisition de terres à grande échelle dans la sous- région ainsi que des droits fonciers des femmes et leurs conditions de travail dans les plantations. Grâce à une cartographie simple faite à partir d’une revue documentaire approfondie, d’observations sur le terrain et de conversations avec certains des acteurs impliqués dans les localités touchées au Cameroun, cet article souligne les expériences des femmes face à la transformation des terres communales coutumières en propriété privée. En fait, partout où la terre est utilisée pour l’agriculture, l’accès des femmes à celle-ci a diminué, les rendant plus vulnérables à la famine, la pauvreté et aux mauvaises conditions de travail. C’est parce que les droits fonciers des femmes n’ont pas évolué au rythme de la transformation des terres costumières en tenures privées. Les processus actuels d’acquisition de terres à grande échelle devraient donc créer des conditions propices à la participation des femmes, par l’équité des chances, la transparence et la reddition de comptes par les communautés et les institutions concernées.

Topics: Economies, Gender, Women, Land Tenure, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Cameroon

Year: 2016

Environmental and Gender Impacts of Land Tenure Regularization in Africa: Pilot Evidence from Rwanda

Citation:

Ali, Daniel Ayalew, Klaus Deininger, and Markus Goldstein. 2014. “Environmental and Gender Impacts of Land Tenure Regularization in Africa: Pilot Evidence from Rwanda.” Journal of Development Economics 110: 262–75.

Authors: Daniel Ayalew Ali, Klaus Deininger, Markus Goldstein

Abstract:

We evaluate the short-term impact of a pilot land regularization program in Rwanda using a geographic discontinuity design with spatial fixed effects. Three key findings emerge from the analysis. First, the program seems to have improved land access for legally married women (about 76% of married couples) and prompted better recording of inheritance rights without gender bias. Second, we find that the program was associated with a very large impact on investment and maintenance of soil conservation measures. This effect was particularly pronounced for female headed households, suggesting that this group had suffered from high levels of tenure insecurity which the program managed to reduce. Third, land market activity declined, allowing us to reject the hypothesis that the program caused a wave of distress sales or widespread landlessness by vulnerable people. Implications for program design and policy are discussed.

Keywords: Gender, agricultural investment, land administration, Rwanda, Property Rights

Topics: Environment, Gender, Women, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Security Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2014

O Gênero da Posse da Terra: um estudo sobre o poder de negociação de mulheres titulares de lotes via reforma agrária

Citation:

Barbosa, Maria L. D. A., and Débora F. Lerrer. 2016. “O Gênero da Posse da Terra: um estudo sobre o poder de negociação de mulheres titulares de lotes via reforma agrária.” Revista Brasileira de Sociologia 4 (8): 243–74.

Authors: Maria L. D. A. Barbosa, Débora F. Lerrer

Abstract:

PORTUGUESE ABSTRACT:
Ocupar terras, ser assentada via política de reforma agrária e ser titular do lote é um fato que raramente ocorre na trajetória da maioria das mulheres do campo. Este estudo, com pesquisa realizada no Assentamento Santa Rosa/Córrego das Posses, localizado na região do Vale do Mucuri em Minas Gerais/Brasil, teve como foco verificar se e como o direito e a posse da terra reposicionam as mulheres em âmbito doméstico e público, isto é, se conferem a elas maior poder de barganha. A literatura aponta que a construção de igualdades reais para as mulheres rurais está vinculada à conquista da posse da terra. O caso estudado apontou que a posse influencia as possibilidades de negociação das mulheres, mas, sobretudo, quando é operada concomitantemente a outras dimensões, como a renda, divisão sexual do trabalho, relações sociais e família.
 
ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
Occupying, settling on the basis of agrarian land reform policies, and holding title of the land are not common facts in the trajectory of most rural women. This research examines if and how having rights to land leads to changes in the bargaining power of women, both domestically and in public sphere. The fieldwork was carried out in the Settlement Santa Rosa/Córrego das Posses, in the Mucuri valley, Minas Gerais. The case under study shows that such rights influence the capacity of women for negotiation, particularly when combined with changes in other dimensions, such as income, the sexual division of labor, social relations, and the family.

Keywords: relações de gênero, posse da terra, assentamento, gender relations, land tenure, settlement

Topics: Gender, Women, Land Tenure, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Brazil

Year: 2016

Land Registration and Certification as a Key Strategy for Ensuring Gender Equity, Preventing Land Grabbing and Enhancing Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from Tigray, Ethiopia

Citation:

Gebre-Egziabher, Abraha Kinfe. 2013. “Land Registration and Certification as a Key Strategy for Ensuring Gender Equity, Preventing Land Grabbing and Enhancing Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from Tigray, Ethiopia.” International Journal of African Renaissance Studies - Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinarity 8 (2): 5-22.

Author: Abraham Kinfe Gebre-Egziabher

Abstract:

In Ethiopia the land issue has always occupied a central place in various struggles for survival and development. Tigray, Ethiopia had a complex land tenure system which has a long history, which goes back to the Aksumite period. The land tenure of Tigray was modified after the introduction of Christianity to Tigray, Ethiopia in about 320 AD, and subsequent leaders began founding churches and establishing monasteries. Traditionally, every Tigreayan was entitled to a piece of land by virtue of the fact that he/she belongs by birth to a given community (Rsti). However, “The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Article over the years this seemingly simple system has been complicated by the monarchs of Tigray. Two of the main problems that were associated with the land issues of Tigray during that time mainly during the imperial regime were land grabbing and the gender disparity in land ownership. As a result of the two and other key problems, the Tigreayans grew progressively poorer over the years.
 
40 (The Right to Property) and Article 35 (Rights of Women), respectively, were aimed at addressing the major problems related to land and gender issues. As a way of implementing the articles given in the Constitution and the policies, the regional government of Tigray used Land Registration and Certification as a strategy. The land registration and certification process conducted in Tigray is a process that is local, simple, done in the language of the people (Tigrigna), transparent and participatory, and has prevented land grabbing and ensured gender equity. This article then discusses how land registration and certification not only prevents land grabbing and ensures gender equity, but also enhances agricultural productivity, by using the evidence from Tigray, Ethiopia.

Keywords: Agricultural productivity, financial capital, human capital, natural capital, social capital, gender equity capital, Land Certification, grabbing, registration, sustainable development, Tigray, Ethiopia

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Economic Inequality, Poverty, Environment, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Land Tenure, Households, Land Grabbing, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Ethiopia

Year: 2013

Global Trends in Land Tenure Reform: Gender Impacts

Citation:

Archambault, Caroline, and Annelies Zoomers, eds. 2015. Global Trends in Land Tenure Reform: Gender Impacts. London and New York: Routledge. 

Authors: Caroline Archambault, Annelies Zoomers

Annotation:

This book explores the gendered dimensions of recent land governance transformations across the globe in the wake of unprecedented pressures on land and natural resources. These complex contemporary forces are reconfiguring livelihoods and impacting women’s positions, their tenure security and well-being, and that of their families.

Bringing together fourteen empirical community case studies from around the world, the book examines governance transformations of land and land-based resources resulting from four major processes of tenure change: commercial land based investments, the formalization of customary tenure, the privatization of communal lands, and post-conflict resettlement and redistribution reforms. Each contribution carefully analyses the gendered dimensions of these transformations, exploring both the gender impact of the land tenure reforms and the social and political economy within which these reforms materialize. The cases provide important insights for decision makers to better promote and design an effective gender lens into land tenure reforms and natural resource management policies. (Summary from Taylor & Francis eBooks)

Table of Contents:
Introduction 
 
Part 1: From Farm to Firm: A Bad Deal for Women? 
 
1. Gender, Land and Agricultural Investments in Lao PDR  
 
2. Women and Benefit Sharing in Large Scale Land Deals: A Mining Case Study from Papua New Guinea  
 
3. A Women's World or the Return of Men? The Gendered Impacts of Residential Tourism in Costa Rica  
 
Part 2: From de Facto to de Jure: Formalizing Patriarchy in the Codification of Customary Tenure?  
 
4. Cameroon's Community Forests Program and Women's Income Generation from Non-Timber Forest Products: Negative impacts and potential solutions  
 
5. Gendered Mobilization: Women and the Politics of Indigenous Land Claims in Argentina  
 
6. Joint Land Titles in Madagascar: The gendered outcome of a "gender neutral" land tenure reform  
 
7. Land Titling and Women's Decision-Making in West Bengal  
 
Part 3: From Common Property to Private Holdings: A Tragedy for the Commoners?  
 
8. "One Doesn't Sell One's Parents:" Gendered Experiences of Shifting Tenure Regimes in the Agricultural Plain of the Sais in Morocco  
 
9. Aging Ejidos in the Wake of Neo-Liberal Reform: Livelihood Predicaments of Mexican Ejidatarias  
 
10. Women's Forestland Rights in the Collective Forestland Reforms in China: Fieldword Findings and Policy Recommendations  
 
11. Gendered Perspectives on Rangeland Privatization among the Maasai of Southern Kenya  
 
Part 4: From Conflict to Peace: An Opportunity for Gender Reconstruction?  
 
12. Reproducing Patriarchy on Resettled Lands: A lost opportunity in reconstituting women's land rights in the fast track land reform program in Zimbabwe  
 
13. Resigning Their Rights? Impediments to women's property ownership in Kosovo  
 
14. Strengthening Women's Land Rights while Recognizing Customary Tenure in Northern Uganda 

Topics: Agriculture, Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Gender, Gender Analysis, Globalization, Governance, Indigenous, Land Grabbing, Land Tenure, Political Economies, Post-Conflict, Privatization, Rights, Land Rights

Year: 2015

When a Good Business Model Is Not Enough: Land Transactions and Gendered Livelihood Prospects in Rural Ghana

Citation:

Tsikata, Dzodzi, and Joseph Awetori Yaro. 2014. “When a Good Business Model Is Not Enough: Land Transactions and Gendered Livelihood Prospects in Rural Ghana.” Feminist Economics 20 (1): 202–26.

Authors: Dzodzi Tsikata, Joseph Awetori Yaro

Abstract:

Recent large-scale commercial agriculture projects in developing countries have raised concerns about the effects on natural resource-based livelihood activities of local people. A significant weakness in the emerging literature is the lack of a gender perspective on implications for agrarian livelihoods. This article explores the gendered aspects of land transactions on livelihood prospects in the Northern Region of Ghana. Drawing on qualitative research from two commercial agriculture projects, the article examines how pre-existing gender inequalities in agrarian production systems, as well as gender biases in project design, are implicated in post-project livelihood activities. The article concludes that a good business model of a land deal, even one that includes local communities in production and profit sharing, is not sufficient to protect women's livelihood prospects if projects ignore pre-existing gender inequalities and biases, which limit access to opportunities.

Keywords: business model, commercial agriculture, commons, Gender, land tenure, livelihoods

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Economic Inequality, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2014

Land Tenure, Gender and Globalization: Research and Analysis from Africa, Asia and Latin America

Citation:

Tsikata, Dzodzi, and Pamela Golah. 2010. Land Tenure, Gender and Globalization: Research and Analysis from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.

Authors: Dzodzi Tsikata, Pamela Golah

Abstract:

Drawing from field research in Cameroon, Ghana, Viet Nam, and the Amazon forests of Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, this book explores the relationship between gender and land, revealing the workings of global capital and of people's responses to it. A central theme is the people's resistance to global forces, frequently through an insistence on the uniqueness of their livelihoods." "For instance, in the Amazon, the focus is on the social movements that have emerged in the context of struggles over land rights concerning the extraction of Brazil nuts and babatu kernels in an increasingly globalised market. In Viet Nam, the process of 'de-collectivising' rights to land is examined with a view to understanding ho* gender and other social differences are reworked in a market economy." "The book addresses a gap in the literature on land tenure and gender in developing countries. It raises new questions about the process of globalisation, particularly about who the actors are (local people, the state, NGOs, multinational companies) and the shifting relations amongst them. The book also challenges the very concepts of gender, land and globalisation. (Abstract from WorldCat)

Annotation:

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
Dzodzi Tsikata 
 
2. Gender, Land Tenure and Globalisation: Exploring the Conceptual Ground
 Fiona D. Mackenzie 
 
3. Gender, Globalisation and Land Tenure: Methodological Challenges and Insights
Allison Goebel
 
4. Economic Liberalisation, Changing Resource Tenures and Gendered Livelihoods: A Study of Small-Scale Gold Mining and Mangrove Exploitation in Rural Ghana
Mariama Awumbila and Dzodzi Tsikata 
 
5. The Politics of Gender, Land and Compensation in Communities Traversed by the Chad- Cameroon Oil Pipeline Project in Cameroon
Joyce B.M. Endeley
 
6. Facing Globalisation: Gender and Land at Stake in the Amazonian Forests of Bolivia, Brazil and Peru 
Noemi Miyasaka Porro, Luciene Dias Figueiredo, Elda Vera Gonzalez, Sissy Bello Nakashima and Alfredo Wagner B. de Almeida 
 
7. Gender, Kinship and Agrarian Transitions in Vietnam 
Steffanie Scott, Danièle Bélanger, Nguyen Thi Van Anh, and Khuat Thu Hong 
 
8. Conclusion: For a Politics of Difference
Noemi Miyasaka Porro

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Land Tenure, Globalization, Land Grabbing, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Americas, South America, Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana, Peru, Vietnam

Year: 2010

Pages

© 2024 CONSORTIUM ON GENDER, SECURITY & HUMAN RIGHTSLEGAL STATEMENT All photographs used on this site, and any materials posted on it, are the property of their respective owners, and are used by permission. Photographs: The images used on the site may not be downloaded, used, or reproduced in any way without the permission of the owner of the image. Materials: Visitors to the site are welcome to peruse the materials posted for their own research or for educational purposes. These materials, whether the property of the Consortium or of another, may only be reproduced with the permission of the owner of the material. This website contains copyrighted materials. The Consortium believes that any use of copyrighted material on this site is both permissive and in accordance with the Fair Use doctrine of 17 U.S.C. § 107. If, however, you believe that your intellectual property rights have been violated, please contact the Consortium at info@genderandsecurity.org.

Subscribe to RSS - Land Tenure