Key findings: Customary tenure remains strong with only 1.2% of plots held under statutory tenure. Over 86% of women reported they have access to land under customary tenure and c.63% of women reported they “own” land under customary tenure. Tenure security is not dependent on formal documentation as proof of ownership. Men play a dominant role in land management. General knowledge of statutory and customary land law and management systems is poor. c.50% of the population have experienced land conflicts, 72% are within household, family or clan.

Report divided into 5 themes: legal issuers of women’s rights to land and property in Namibia; traditional institutions on women’s land and property rights; HIV/AIDS, land and property rights, and livelihood strategies; Namibian experiences; regional experiences (Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe).

Includes the predicaments, concerns and challenges faced by rural women – commercialization of natural resources, how rural women value land, from ‘women’s crops’ to ‘men’s crops’, plantation economies and rural women, the water factor, women are not parties to the deal. Towards solutions for rural women, invest in local food systems, women’s rights to land, build toward collective action. Conclusions and recommendations.

Contains relationship between land rights, poverty and food security; political support for women’s land rights?; change through education and empowerment; in whose interest?; law and enforcement; part of wider changes.

Examines changes in management of customary tenure and how these have made women’s access to land more vulnerable. Recommends strategies for empowering women to have secure access rights and increase their tenure security. Seeks a compromise between policy makers and women activists on the current co-ownership debate. Argues that the family unit should become the unit of ownership under customary tenure and that all those who derive livelihoods should be registered on the title of ownership.

Globalisation impacts on local land markets and land-use, land transaction costs affect food prices, and the combined effect is particularly damaging to women who produce food and put food on the table for their families. Article examines what is attracting investors and market speculators into the farm and land sectors; what is at stake for small farmers – especially women farmers – and long-term impacts for food production and food security; and what action is needed to enable women to secure access to natural resource and land assets for current and future generations?

Includes why are these issues especially poignant for women?, softening the blow while tightening the wrench, a question of ownership – women and land in Africa, the realities of customary land and the rights of women, land rights – moving beyond the individual claim.

Examines the role of development cooperation in land reforms and the extent to which donor organisations have addressed concerns related to gender equality. Reviews the reforms in 15 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, with a focus on Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Nicaragua. Legislation upholding gender equality is now present in different degrees in most of the countries examined. However, implementation often does not follow suit and women still face discrimination, in part due to social and cultural barriers and the inaccessibility of institutions able to support them.

Having listened to the presentations, encourage communities to continue to assert their rights. Noted a failure of governance and lack of good democratic practice. Consultation processes have been abused, promises not fulfilled, women not involved in decision making, there is a critical need for greater openness and transparency in all land deals. Make a number of recommendations to African governments and calls on investors to ensure that women’s voices and interests are heard and heeded in all decision making.

Argues the need for long term perspectives on implementing land reforms, to address people’s perceptions and practices, to decentralise authority to the local level, and to mainstream women’s rights into every activity relating to land, land administration and land dispute settlement.

Asks how have rural women become important actors in accessing land and shaping non-permanent mobile livelihoods in the context of the fast track land reform programme. Data is based on an ethnographic study at Merrivale farm, Tavaka village, from 2009-12. Shows that women have become major actors in land acquisition and non-permanent mobile livelihoods. Mobility is central in the evolving conflicts in the new resettlement areas. The concept of home becomes central in resolving conflicts and affects how conflict mechanisms are reached both at Merrivale and in South Africa.

Tanzania’s land reform from 1999 has been evaluated as among the most gender-sensitive of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. However there is a gap between the legal framework and what is happening on the ground. This paper analyses the challenges related to the protection of women’s rights to land in rural areas. It provides detailed information on reform implementation experiences so far by analysing a number of government and NGO interventions.