This paper - from the International Food Policy Research Institute - strives to introduce a discussion of the gender dimensions into the growing debate on large-scale land deals.
This study documents women’s aspirations in relation to land in Kibaale district, Uganda. The study was designed to identify the gaps between those aspirations and the current reality, the actions required for their achievement, and the implications of those actions. Based on qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, information was gathered from 60 women belonging to the two villages, Nyanacumu and Kanywamiyaga, in the sub-county of Muhorro in Kibaale district. Researchers used appreciative inquiry, participant observation, narratives, focus groups, photos and video recording.
Poor women in developing countries rely on land as source of livelihood. Increasing pressure on land — brought on by globalisation pressures, increased population and privatisation — undermines women’s land tenure security. The comparison of women’s land access is predominantly measured against that of men, and this has been the basis for formulating policy aimed at increasing women’s land tenure security. However, this dichotomy reduces women to a homogenous group which experiences tenure security in an identical manner, so the dichotomy masks several differences which exist among women.
The importance of land to poor people’s livelihoods cannot be over emphasized. Land provides the foundation upon which people construct and maintain livelihoods. Consequently, secure access to land is a prerequisite for securing livelihoods. Women are the majority of the poor as they have limited access to social and economic resources. This increases their dependence on basic resources like land. The majority of women rely on a land based livelihood mainly as subsistence agricultural producers.
The Gender, Land and Asset Survey (GLAS) is one of the first studies to undertake a quantitative and gendered assessment of men’s and women’s rights over assets – including ownership, documentation and degree of control over use, transfer and transactions – and the implications thereof.
Access to and control over land is crucial for family well-being and food security in Kenya. Most land in Kenya is acquired through inheritance of family ancestral land, which is mostly passed down the male line.
Poor women in developing countries rely on land as source of livelihood. Increasing pressure on land — brought on by globalisation pressures, increased population and privatisation — undermines women’s land tenure security. The comparison of women’s land access is predominantly measured against that of men, and this has been the basis for formulating policy aimed at increasing women’s land tenure security.
WOLREC undertook this action research in order to enhance women’s bargaining power through improved access and control over land in the patrilineal and matrilineal communities in Southern and Northern Malawi. For WOLREC, as an action-orientated NGO, the exact nature of the relationship between women’s bargaining power in the household and their access to, and control over land is key to deciding which interventions improve poor rural women’s access to economic justice.
This lesson brief presents the situations faced by modern Ghanaian women and compare their evolving land rights across regions. It is part of the Focus on Land in Africa: Land Tenure and Property Rights online educational tool.
This lesson brief discusses projects developed to reinvigorate the process of land registration formalization in peri-urban Ghana, their impacts, and the risks of unintended consequences for women, pastorlaists and the poor if their rights are explicitly taken into account.
This lesson brief examines the ways in which women's rights groups collaborated and engaged in the land law reform process in Tanzania. It is part of the Focus on Land in Africa: Land Tenure and Property Right online educational tool.
