Rights

Citation:

Godden, Naomi Joy, Pam Macnish, Trimita Chakma, and Kavita Naidu. 2020. “Feminist Participatory Action Research as a Tool for Climate Justice.” Gender & Development 28 (3): 593–615.

Authors: Naomi Joy Godden, Pam Macnish, Trimita Chakma, Kavita Naidu

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
The Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) uses Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) to strengthen grassroots women’s movements to advocate for an alternative development model – the ‘Feminist Fossil Fuel Free Future’ (5Fs) – to ensure new, gender-just, economic, political, and social relationships in a world free from climate injustices. Grassroots women of the global South face the extreme impacts of climate change resulting in reinforced and exacerbated inequalities driven by a patriarchal capitalist economy. APWLD’s Climate Justice-FPAR 2017–2019 (CJ-FPAR) supported young women researchers across Asia to lead grassroots research to expose the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women to demand climate justice. The programme evaluation found that CJ-FPAR proved highly successful as a feminist political tool in enhancing grassroots women’s activism through capacity building, producing new knowledge, tools and resources, undertaking impactful advocacy, and strengthening the movements’ architecture. We argue that FPAR is a useful methodology for grassroots feminist climate justice activists to collectively document lived experiences of climate change and strengthen women’s movements to engage in strategic activism and advocacy for rights-based policy change.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Le Forum Asie-Pacifique sur les femmes, le droit et le développement (APWLD) emploie la Recherche-action participative féministe (RAPF) pour renforcer les mouvements de femmes au niveau de la base populaire et les aider à préconiser un modèle de développement alternatif — l’avenir féministe sans combustibles fossiles (Feminist Fossil Fuel Free Future — 5Fs) — pour garantir de nouvelles relations économiques, politiques et sociales équitables entre les sexes dans un monde libre d’injustices face au changement climatique. Les femmes de la base populaire de l’hémisphère Sud sont confrontées aux impacts extrêmes du changement climatique, ce qui entraîne des inégalités renforcées et exacerbées, impulsées par une économie capitaliste patriarcale. Le programme de l’APWLD Climate Justice-FPAR (CJ-FPAR) (Justice climat-RAPF) 2017-2019 a aidé des jeunes chercheuses des quatre coins de l’Asie à mener des recherches au niveau de la base populaire pour mettre en évidence les impacts disproportionnés du changement climatique sur les femmes afin d’exiger la justice en matière de climat. L’évaluation du programme a constaté que CJ-FPAR s’est révélé extrêmement efficace en tant qu’outil féministe pour renforcer l’activisme des femmes au niveau de la base populaire grâce au renforcement des capacités, à la production de nouveaux outils, connaissances et ressources, à la réalisation d’activités de plaidoyer à fort impact et au renforcement de l’architecture des mouvements. Nous soutenons que la RAPF est une méthodologie utile pour les activistes féministes de la base populaire qui luttent pour la justice en matière de climat leur permettant de documenter collectivement les expériences vécues du changement climatique et de renforcer les mouvements de femmes pour qu’ils puissent prendre part à un activisme et un plaidoyer stratégiques en vue de changements de politiques basés sur les droits.

SPANISH ABSTRACT:
El Foro de Asia y el Pacífico sobre la Mujer, el Derecho y el Desarrollo (APWLD) utiliza la Investigación de Acción Participativa Feminista (FPAR) para fortalecer movimientos de base de mujeres. Su objetivo es abogar por un modelo de desarrollo alternativo —el "Futuro Feminista Libre de Combustibles Fósiles" (5Fs en inglés)— que garantice nuevas relaciones económicas, políticas y sociales justas desde el punto de vista del género en un mundo libre de injusticias climáticas. Las mujeres de base del Sur Global enfrentan impactos extremos vinculados al cambio climático, lo que provoca el reforzamiento y exacerbación de las desigualdades impulsadas por una economía capitalista patriarcal. El programa de justicia climática del APWLD (CJFPAR) 2017-2019 apoyó a jóvenes investigadoras de toda Asia para que dirigieran estudios de base orientadas a exhibir los efectos desproporcionados que el cambio climático tiene en las mujeres, y que ello permitiera exigir justicia climática. Al evaluarse el programa, se determinó que CJ-FPAR fue muy exitoso como instrumento político feminista, pues potencia el activismo de las mujeres a nivel de base fomentando sus capacidades, la producción de nuevos conocimientos, instrumentos y recursos, así como la realización de actividades de incidencia eficaces y el fortalecimiento de la estructura de los movimientos. Sostenemos que el FPAR es una metodología útil para que las activistas feministas de base en pro de la justicia climática documenten colectivamente sus vivencias relacionadas con el cambio climático y fortalezcan los movimientos de mujeres a fin de que participen en el activismo estratégico y la incidencia a favor de un cambio de políticas basado en los derechos.

Keywords: climate justice, feminist participatory action research, women's human rights, Asia, feminist activism, social movements

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Justice, Political Participation, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Asia

Year: 2020

Citation:

Fresnillo Sallan, Iolanda. 2020. “Debt and Climate: Entangled Emergencies Derailing Women’s Rights and Gender Justice.” Gender & Development 28 (3): 499–513.

Author: Iolanda Fresnillo Sallan

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
As a new debt crisis is hitting the global South, aggravated by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and economies will face growing difficulties and challenges to deal with climate emergencies, adaptation, and mitigation. As we have seen in the past, debt crises tend to have a negative impact on women’s rights and gender equality, mainly through the implementation of austerity measures. Additionally, the climate emergency also has specific negative impacts on women’s rights and gender justice. The article explores the cumulative impacts on women of debt and austerity dynamics on one side, and climate crisis on the other. Also it proposes responses to the economic, social, and environmental crisis we are living, that address both debt and climate risks in a comprehensive, systemic, and feminist approach.

FRENCH ABSTRACT:
L’hémisphère Sud est touchée par une nouvelle crise de la dette aggravée par l’impact économique de la pandémie de COVID-19, et les gouvernements et les économies vont donc devoir se confronter à des difficultés et des défis croissants les poussant à se pencher sur les situations d’urgence liées au climat, ainsi que l’adaptation et l’atténuation. Comme nous l’avons vu dans le passé, les crises de la dette tendent à avoir un impact négatif sur les droits des femmes et l’égalité des sexes — principalement à travers la mise en oeuvre de mesures d’austérité. De plus, l’urgence climatique a aussi des impacts négatifs spécifiques sur les droits des femmes et la justice de genre. Cet article examine les effets cumulatifs sur les femmes de la dette et de la dynamique de l’austérité d’un côté, et de la crise climatique de l’autre. Il propose par ailleurs des réponses à la crise économique, sociale et environnementale que nous traversons, qui abordent les risques liés tant à la dette qu’au climat dans le cadre d’une approche globale, systémique et féministe.

SPANISH ABSTRACT:
A medida que una nueva crisis de la deuda, agravada por el impacto económico de la pandemia de COVID 19, golpee al Sur Global, los gobiernos y las economías tendrán que enfrentar crecientes dificultades y desafíos para hacer frente a las emergencias climáticas, promover adaptaciones e instrumentar estrategias de mitigación. Como hemos visto en el pasado, las crisis de la deuda tienden a provocar impactos negativos en los derechos de la mujer y la igualdad de género —principalmente mediante la aplicación de medidas de austeridad. Además, la emergencia climática tiene efectos negativos concretos en los derechos de la mujer y la igualdad de género. El presente artículo analiza los efectos negativos acumulativos ocasionados en las mujeres por la dinámica de la deuda y la austeridad, por un lado, y la crisis climática, por el otro. Asimismo, propone algunas respuestas a las crisis económica, social y ambiental que estamos viviendo, que abordan la deuda y los riesgos climáticos desde una perspectiva integral, sistémica y feminista.

Keywords: debt, climate austerity, public services, macroeconomic policies, ecofeminism

Topics: Economies, Public Finance, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Health, Rights, Women's Rights

Year: 2020

Citation:

Chigbu, Uchendu Eugene, Gaynor Paradza, and Walter Dachaga. 2019. “Differentiations in Women’s Land Tenure Experiences: Implications for Women’s Land Access and Tenure Security in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Land 8 (2). https://doi.org/10.3390/land8020022

Authors: Uchendu Eugene Chigbu, Gaynor Paradza, Walter Dachaga

Abstract:

Most literature on land tenure in sub-Saharan Africa has presented women as a homogenous group. This study uses evidence from Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe to show that women have differentiated problems, needs, and statuses in their quest for land access and tenure security. It illustrates how women-to-women differences influence women’s access to land. By investigating differentiations in women’s land tenure in the three countries, the study identifies multiple and somewhat interlinked ways in which differentiations exist in women’s land tenure. It achieved some key outcomes. The findings include a matrix of factors that differentiate women’s land access and tenure security, a visualisation of women’s differentiation in land tenure showing possible modes for actions, and an adaptable approach for operationalising women’s differentiation in land tenure policies (among others). Using these as evidence, it argues that women are a highly differentiated gender group, and the only thing homogenous in the three cases is that women are heterogeneous in their land tenure experiences. It concludes that an emphasis on how the differentiation among women allows for significant insight to emerge into how they experience tenure access differently is essential in improving the tenure security of women. Finally, it makes policy recommendations. 

Keywords: differentiation, gender, land, land access, land rights, land tenure, tenure security, social tenure, Sub-Saharan Africa, women, women's differentiation

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe

Year: 2019

Citation:

Narciso, Vanda Jesus Santos, and Pedro Damião Sousa Henriques. 2020. “Does the Matrilineality Make a Difference? Land, Kinship and Women’s Empowerment in Bobonaro District, Timor-Leste.” Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy 25 (2): 348–70.

Authors: Vanda Jesus Santos Narciso, Pedro Damião Sousa Henriques

Abstract:

This article investigates the roles that land rights and kinship norms have on rural women’s empowerment in the Bobonaro district of Timor-Leste. To this aim, a case study was carried out, using a questionnaire survey to compare three kinship groups (harmonic matrilineal, matrilineal and patrilineal). The land rights considered are ownership and control. The measurement of empowerment is based on three questions relating to household decision-making. Women’s autonomy and participation in decisions are also analyzed. The data presented show the importance of not only the ownership of land, but also effective and independent women’s land rights and the kinship system to women’s empowerment. Therefore, in order to contribute to gender equality, land policies should take gender and kinship into close consideration. 

Keywords: women, land, kinship, empowerment, Timor-Leste

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Hierarchies, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Oceania Countries: Timor-Leste

Year: 2020

Citation:

Paradza, Gaynor, Lebogang Mokwena and Walter Musakwa. 2020. “Could Mapping Initiatives Catalyze the Interpretation of Customary Land Rights in Ways that Secure Women’s Land Rights?” Land  9 (10): 344-360.

Authors: Gaynor Paradza, Lebogang Mokwena, Walter Musakwa

Abstract:

Although land forms the basis for marginal livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa, the asset is more strategic for women as they usually hold derived and dependent rights to land in customary tenure areas. Initiatives to secure women’s land tenure in customary areas are undermined by the social embeddedness of the rights, patriarchy, lack of awareness by the communities, legal pluralism, and challenges of recording the rights. As pressure on customary land tenure increases due to foreign and local land-based investment interests, land titling initiatives, tourism, and mineral resources exploration, communities and women within them are at real risk of losing their land, the basis of their livelihoods. Women stand to lose more as they hold tenuous land rights in customary land tenure areas. Accordingly, this study analyzes case studies of selected mapping initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa to interrogate the extent to which mapping both as a cadastral exercise and emerging practice in the initiation of participatory land governance initiatives, catalyze the transmission of customary land rights in ways that have a positive impact on women’s access to land in customary land tenure areas. The results indicate that mapping initiatives generate opportunities, innovations, and novel spaces for securing women’s access to land in customary tenure areas which include catalyzing legislative changes and facilitating technology transfer, increasing awareness of women’s interests, providing opportunities for women to participate in decision-making forums, providing a basis for securing statutory recognition for their land rights, and improving natural resource stewardship. The potential challenges include the community’s capacity to sustain the initiatives, the expense of the technology and software, widespread illiteracy of women, power asymmetries and bias of the mapping experts, increased vulnerability of mapped land to exploitation, the legal status of the maps in the host community and /or country, compatibility with existing land recording systems, statutory bias in recording land rights and the potential of mapping initiatives to unearth existing land boundary conflicts. These challenges can be mediated by sensitive planning and management to ensure real and sustainable land tenure security for women. The paper contributes to debates around customary land tenure dynamics, specifically the issues pertaining to registration of primary and derived customary rights to land. These includes policy debates and choices to be made about how best to secure tenuous customary land rights of women and other vulnerable people. The paper also contributes to our understanding of what instruments in land registration toolkits might strengthen women’s land rights and the conditions under which this could be done.

Keywords: customary, land, tenure, women, mapping, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa

Year: 2020

Citation:

Faxon, Hilary. 2020. “Securing Meaningful Life: Women’s Work and Land Rights in Rural Myanmar.” Journal of Rural Studies 76: 76–84. 

Author: Hilary Faxon

Annotation:

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Gender Analysis, Women, Households, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Myanmar

Year: 2020

Citation:

Nyakato, Viola N., Charles Rwabukwali, and Susan Kools. 2020. "Women's Land Rights and Maternal Healthcare in Southwestern Uganda: Exploring the Implications of Women's Decision-Making Regarding Sale and Use of Land on Access to Maternal Healthcare." African Journal of Reproductive Health 24 (1): 62-80.

Authors: Viola N. Nyakato, Charles Rwabukwali, Susan Kools

Abstract:

Keywords: land ownership, decision-making, gender, maternal healthcare, Uganda

Topics: Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Hierarchies, Patriarchy, Health, Reproductive Health, Households, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2020

Citation:

Kang, Munsu, Benjamin Schwab, and Jisang Yu. 2020. “Gender Differences in the Relationship between Land Ownership and Managerial Rights: Implications for Intrahousehold Farm Labor Allocation”. World Development 125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104669.

Authors: Munsu Kang, Benjamin Schwab, Jisang Yu

Abstract:

Recent research has increased interest in the intersection of land tenure and gender roles in African agriculture. While formalization of land ownership has been found to have important gender impacts, time use and management remain critical to both the productivity of agricultural operations as well as the welfare of household members. Thus, it is important to understand how gender intersects with the relationship between the ownership and operation of plots. We use plot level data from nationally representative household surveys in Ethiopia and Malawi to characterize the structure (sole male; sole female; or joint) and domain (plot ownership; plot management; or output management) of control over land in each household. We then answer the following research questions: 1) are there any gender gaps in the degrees of the concordance among different domains of controls? and 2) how does the structure of ownership and managerial rights affect labor allocations on plots? We find that for both males and females, sole managerial rights are most likely to occur in plots owned exclusively by either gender. However, on jointly owned plots, instances of sole planting rights are almost exclusively male. We also find that while females supply more of their own labor to plots they control, the pattern of own-gender bias in labor allocation varies with each structure-domain combination. The heterogeneity suggests gender inequality analyses related to land rights are sensitive to the choice of domain of control. 

Keywords: land rights, gender equality, farm labor, LSMS, Ethiopia, Malawi

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Hierarchies, Households, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Ethiopia, Malawi

Year: 2020

Citation:

Njieassam, Esther Effundem. 2019. “Gender Inequality and Land Rights: The Situation of Indigenous Women in Cameroon”. PER: Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 22 (1): 1–33.

Author: Esther Effundem Njieassam

Abstract:

Land is an essential resource that serves as a means of subsistence for millions of people in the world and indigenous communities and women in particular. Most indigenous societies' survival is closely tied to land. In Cameroon, indigenous women are the backbone of food production in their communities. That makes access to land important, as it is a significant source of wealth and power for indigenous peoples in general and indigenous women in particular. While women all over the world encounter gender-based discrimination in relation to the control and ownership of land, indigenous women face triple discrimination on the basis of their gender (as women), their ethnicity (as indigenous peoples) and their economic class (economically poor). They are often dehumanised, degraded and subjected to treatment as second-class human beings despite the existence of national legislation that discourages such practices. This paper interrogates the possibility of including indigenous women in government and decision-making processes in Cameroon in the hope that they may be involved in key decision-making processes that affect them, thereby reducing their economic and social vulnerability. It concludes with some thoughtful recommendations on policy reform aimed at ensuring access to land for indigenous women as well as socio-economic justice in its broadest sense. 

Keywords: indigenous women, gendered-based discrimination, land rights, gender inequality, decision-making, participation, Cameroon

Topics: Class, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Indigenous, Rights, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Cameroon

Year: 2019

Citation:

Louis, Elizabeth, Tizai Mauto, My-Lan Dodd, Tasha Heidenrich, Peter Dolo and Emmanuel Urey. 2020. “Using a Gender-Responsive Land Rights Framework to Assess Youth Land Rights in Rural Liberia.” Land 9 (8): 247–68.

Authors: Elizabeth Louis, Tizai Mauto, My-Lan Dodd, Tasha Heidenrich, Peter Dolo, Emmanuel Urey

Abstract:

This article summarizes the evidence on youth land rights in Liberia from a literature review combined with primary research from two separate studies: (1) A qualitative assessment conducted as formative research to inform the design of the Land Rights and Sustainable Development (LRSD) project for Landesa and its partners’ community level interventions; and (2) a quantitative baseline survey of program beneficiaries as part of an evaluation of the LRSD project. The findings are presented using a Gender-Responsive Land Rights Framework that examines youth land rights through a gender lens. The evidence highlights that female and male youth in Liberia face significant but different barriers to long-term access to land, as well as to participation in decisions related to land. Our suggested recommendations offer insights for the implementation of Liberia’s recently passed Land Rights Act as well as for community-level interventions focused on increasing youth land tenure security in Liberia.

Keywords: youth land rights, gender-responsive land rights framework, Liberia Land Rights Act, land governance, tenure security

Topics: Age, Youth, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Liberia

Year: 2020