Poverty

Citation:

Meinzen-Dick, Ruth, Agnes Quisumbing, Cheryl Doss and Sophie Theis. 2019. “Women's Land Rights as a Pathway to Poverty Reduction: Framework and Review of Available Evidence.” Agricultural Systems 172: 72-82.

Authors: Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Agnes Quisumbing, Cheryl Doss, Sophie Theis

Abstract:

This paper reviews the literature on women’s land rights (WLR) and poverty reduction. It uses the Gender, Agriculture and Assets Project (GAAP) conceptual framework to identify pathways by which WLR could reduce poverty and increase wellbeing of women and their households in rural areas. It uses a systematic review search methodology to identify papers for inclusion, but adopts a more synthetic approach to assess the level of agreement and the amount of evidence within this literature. The paper examines the evidence from qualitative as well as quantitative studies on each of these pathways. Owing to the scarcity of experimental studies, the review of empirical work is based mostly on observational studies. We find some evidence on these relationships, but many of the key pathways have not been empirically analyzed. The evidence is strong for relationships between WLR and bargaining power and decision-making on consumption, human capital investment, and intergenerational transfers. There is a high level of agreement, but weaker evidence on the relationship between WLR and natural resource management, government services and institutions, empowerment and domestic violence, resilience and HIV risk, and consumption and food security. There is less agreement and insufficient evidence on the associations between WLR and other livelihoods, and a higher level of agreement, but still limited evidence on associations between WLR and credit, technology adoption, and agricultural productivity. Notably, we find no papers that directly investigate the link between WLR and poverty. Many gaps in the evidence arise from a failure to account for the complexity of land rights regimes, the measurement of land rights at the household level, the lack of attention paid to gender roles, and the lack of studies from countries outside Africa. Many studies are limited by small sample sizes, the lack of credible counterfactuals, lack of attention to endogeneity and selection bias, and possible response bias on questions of domestic violence and empowerment. There are very few rigorous evaluations of reforms that strengthened WLR. The paper concludes that gaps in the evidence should not deter the careful design and implementation of programs and policies to strengthen WLR, given the ongoing land tenure reforms in many countries. Different modalities and mechanisms for strengthening WLR could be tested, with appropriate counterfactuals. Program designers and evaluators can strategically identify pathways and outcomes where evidence gaps exist, and deliberately design studies to close those gaps.

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Poverty, Gender, Women, Households, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights

Year: 2019

Citation:

Luwaya, Nolundi. 2018. “Land, Status and Security – A Burden Borne by Women.” Agenda 32 (4): 103-10.

Author: Nolundi Luwaya

Abstract:

Women in rural South Africa, living on communal land, struggle for recognition of both their land rights and claims to land across and within multiple spaces. The arenas within which these women wage their struggles are multidimensional; various dynamics, interests, and laws weave together to knit a particular tapestry. Women in rural communities experience extreme poverty and inadequate access to basic services, woven together with the legacies of colonial and apartheid era land legislation. It is a cruel irony that such extreme poverty is experienced in the former homelands where these high levels of poverty are sharpened by the existence of vast mineral wealth beneath the surface. This mineral wealth is frequently enjoyed by traditional elites who are often privileged to the disadvantage of the communities that they serve. The strands within this complex tapestry that I wish to unravel in this paper are centred around the historical legal construction of the status and land rights of black women and the implications thereof on current struggles. The construction of racist, patriarchal, historical narratives cannot be discussed without examining recent legislative responses dealing with communal land, in particular, by the post-apartheid state, and their effect on women. The Constitution’s promises of land reform and tenure security for people living on communal land must be fulfilled. This fulfilment must be sensitive to the particular challenges faced by women in these rural communities, women who have and continue to lay their bodies on the line for land.

Keywords: women's land rights, communal land, status, security of tenure, South Africa

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2018

Citation:

Tekwa, Newman, and Jimi Adesina. 2018. “Gender, Poverty and Inequality in the Aftermath of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform: A Transformative Social Policy Perspective.” Journal of International Women's Studies 19 (5): 45-62.

Authors: Newman Tekwa, Jimi Adesina

Abstract:

Gender equality is re-emerging as an important global and national agenda with emphasis placed on closing the gender gap in terms of women’s representation in public and private decision-making bodies. Though unrelatedly, the period had coincided with the elevation of social protection in the form of cash transfers as the magic bullet in tackling gendered poverty and inequality. Adopting a Transformative Social Policy Framework and land reform as a social policy instrument, the paper questions the efficacy of the current approaches in transforming gendered poverty and inequalities. Land reform is hardly ever assessed as a policy instrument for its redistributive, productive, social protection and social reproduction functions. This paper departs from ‘classical models’ of land reforms, often designed in the mould of neo-liberal discourses of individual tenure to offer an in-depth reformulation of the land question and notions of land reforms. It focuses on land reform as a relational question with potential for social transformation as social policies within the transformative social policy framework relates not only to protection from destitution, but transformation of social institutions and relations including gender. In the year 2000, the Zimbabwean government embarked on a radical land reform programme whose redistributive outcomes saw various categories of women (married, single, and widowed) comprising 12-18% of beneficiaries gaining access to land in their own right. Data gathered through a mixed methods approach combining ethnographic and survey methods and analysed using qualitative and quantitative methods, suggest that access to larger pieces of land, irrigation, credit, markets and support training services by both women and men had transformed women’s social and economic situation in relation to men within the resettled areas.

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zimbabwe

Year: 2018

Citation:

Santos, Florence, Diana Fletschner, Vivien Savath, and Amber Peterman. 2014. “Can Government-Allocated Land Contribute to Food Security? Intrahousehold Analysis of West Bengal’s Microplot Allocation Program.” World Development 64: 860–72.

Authors: Florence Santos, Diana Fletschner, Vivien Savath, Amber Peterman

Abstract:

This study evaluates the impact of India’s land-allocation and registration program in West Bengal, a program that targets poor populations and promotes the inclusion of women’s names on land titles. Although we are unable to detect statistically significant program effects on current household food security, we find that the program has positive impacts on a range of outcomes that are expected to lay the foundation for future food security including improved security of tenure, agricultural investments, and women’s involvement in food and agricultural decisions. Findings provide lessons in designing and implementing innovative and integrated approaches to reduce hunger and undernutrition.

Keywords: food security, gender, land rights, intrahousehold dynamics, West Bengal, India

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Poverty, Gender, Women, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Security, Food Security Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2014

Citation:

Jerneck, Anne. 2018. “Taking Gender Seriously in Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainability Science Research: Views from Feminist Debates and Sub-Saharan Small-Scale Agriculture.” Sustainability Science 13 (2): 403–16.

Author: Anne Jerneck

Abstract:

People, places, and production contributing the least to climate change will suffer the most. This calls for adaptation as a key climate change response. But adaptation is surrounded by problems. Finance is uncertain and fragmented, mainstreaming into development is complicated, and technical solutions often overshadow existing social relations and institutions. From a gender perspective, and as a critical research initiative to support the building of sustainability science as an umbrella field, this article raises three pertinent questions on adaptation in the global South: what is its purpose, how can development inform it, and what institutions in terms of rights and responsibilities are core to it? Focusing on sub-Saharan small-scale agriculture, three main points emerge. Regarding the purpose, adaptation should be a transformative pathway out of poverty, ill-health, and food insecurity. Regarding development, adaptation can learn from how development theory, policy, and practice have addressed women, gender, and environment in varied settings and debates. Regarding core institutions, adaptation must address gender regimes that regulate access to, use of, and control over resources, especially those defining land distribution, labour division, and strategic decision-making power. To conclude, I propose gender-informed research questions for further inquiry.

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Poverty, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Health, Land Tenure, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa

Year: 2018

Citation:

Hartmann, Betsy. 2014. “Converging on Disaster: Climate Security and the Malthusian Anticipatory Regime for Africa.” Geopolitics 19 (4): 757–83.

Author: Betsy Hartmann

Abstract:

Malthus’s privileging of population growth as the main cause of poverty, scarcity and war still resonates widely in both the public policy arena and popular culture. It shapes dominant discourses about the relationship between climate change, conflict and security in Africa. This article examines what I call the Malthusian Anticipatory Regime for Africa (MARA). MARA represents the convergence of current international strategies for reducing high fertility in sub-Saharan Africa through long-acting female contraception with climate conflict narratives that blame environmental degradation on population pressure and portray young African men as a security threat. Together these serve as a powerful gendered rationale for Western humanitarian and military interventions. MARA also plays a role in justifying the new land enclosures on the continent. How can critical scholarship more effectively challenge MARA and intervene in the politics of anticipating the future?

Topics: Conflict, Economies, Poverty, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gendered Discourses, Humanitarian Assistance, International Organizations, Rights, Reproductive Rights, Security Regions: Africa

Year: 2014

Citation:

Mwesigye, Francis, Madina Guloba, and Mildred Barungi. 2020. “Women’s Land Rights and Agricultural Productivity in Uganda.” In Women and Sustainable Human Development: Empowering Women in Africa,  edited by Maty Konte and Nyasha Tirivayi, 71–88. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Authors: Francis Mwesigye, Madina Guloba, Mildred Barungi

Abstract:

This chapter examines the status of women’s land rights and their implications for agricultural productivity in Uganda. The study finds that women had ownership rights over 32% of the surveyed parcels and use rights over 16% of the parcels. It also finds that granting land rights to women enhances productivity, but ownership rights are more important than use rights. Yield was significantly higher on parcels owned by women compared to those where women only had use rights. Therefore, granting use rights alone is not sufficient to promote efficient land use by women, but granting ownership rights can and does enhance yield. These results suggest that there is a need to strengthen female land ownership rights to promote agricultural productivity and reduce poverty. Enhancing women’s land rights is key in achieving the first and fifth sustainable development goals—alleviating poverty and promoting gender equality, respectively.

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Poverty, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2020

Citation:

Goh, Amelia H. X. 2012. “A Literature Review of the Gender-Differentiated Impacts of Climate Change on Women’s and Men’s Assets and Well-Being in Developing Countries.” CAPRi Working Paper 106, Washington, DC, International Food Policy Research Institute. 

Author: Amelia H. X. Goh

Abstract:

Climate change increasingly affects the livelihoods of people, and poor people experience especially negative impacts given their lack of capacity to prepare for and cope with the effects of a changing climate. Among poor people, women and men may experience these impacts differently. This review presents and tests two hypotheses on the gender-differentiated impacts of climate change on women and men in developing countries. The first hypothesis is that climate-related events affect men’s and women’s well-being and assets differently. The second hypothesis is that climate-related shocks affect women more negatively than men. With limited evidence from developing countries, this review shows that climate change affects women’s and men’s assets and well-being differently in six impact areas: (i) impacts related to agricultural production, (ii) food security, (iii) health, (iv) water and energy resources, (v) climate-induced migration and conflict, and (vi) climate-related natural disasters. In the literature reviewed, women seem to suffer more negative impacts of climate change in terms of their assets and well-being because of social and cultural norms regarding gender roles and their lack of access to and control of assets, although there are some exceptions. Empirical evidence in this area is limited, patchy, varied, and highly contextual in nature, which makes it difficult to draw strong conclusions. Findings here are indicative of the complexities in the field of gender and climate change, and signal that multidisciplinary research is needed to further enhance the knowledge base on the differential climate impacts on women’s and men’s assets and well-being in agricultural and rural settings, and to understand what mechanisms work best to help women and men in poor communities become more climate resilient.

Keywords: climate change, gender, assets, impacts, developing countries

Topics: Agriculture, Displacement & Migration, Climate Displacement, Economies, Poverty, Environment, Climate Change, Environmental Disasters, Gender, Gender Roles, Health, Infrastructure, Energy, Water & Sanitation, Livelihoods, Security, Food Security

Year: 2012

Citation:

Andersen, Lykke E., Dorte Verner, and Manfred Wiebelt. 2017. “Gender and Climate Change in Latin America: An Analysis of Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience Based on Household Surveys: Gender and Climate Change in Latin America.” Journal of International Development 29 (7): 857–76. 

Authors: Lykke E. Andersen, Dorte Verner, Manfred Wiebelt

Abstract:

This paper analyses gender differences in vulnerability and resilience to shocks, including climate change and climate variability, for Peru, Brazil and Mexico, which together account for more than half the population in Latin America. Vulnerability and resilience indicators are measured by a combination of the level of household incomes per capita and the degree of diversification of these incomes. Thus, households which simultaneously have incomes which are below the national poverty line and which are poorly diversified (Diversification Index below 0.5) are classified as highly vulnerable, whereas households which have highly diversified incomes above the poverty line are classified as highly resilient. The analysis shows that female headed households in all three countries tend to be less vulnerable and more resilient than male headed households, despite the fact that the former usually have lower education levels.

Keywords: Brazil, external shocks, livelihood diversification, mexico, Peru, resilience, vulnerability

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Education, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Households Regions: Americas, North America, South America Countries: Brazil, Mexico, Peru

Year: 2017

Citation:

Hellin, Jon, and Eleanor Fisher. 2019. "The Achilles Heel of Climate-Smart Agriculture." Nature Climate Change 9: 493-94.

Authors: Jon Hellin, Eleanor Fisher

Annotation:

Climate-smart food systems are needed to feed growing populations while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving natural resources. However, to be successful, climate-smart agriculture interventions must be equitable and inclusive to overcome trade-offs with other Sustainable Development Goals.

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Poverty, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Year: 2019