Gender and Access to Land Research Papers (original) (raw)

Large-scale land acquisitions by investors, which are often called ‘land grabs’, can deprive rural women and communities of their livelihoods and land, increasing their food insecurity. This report argues that the current rise in land grabbing needs to be urgently addressed, and focuses on the actions that developing countries can take to mitigate land grabs through strengthening national land governance so that it is transparent, is accountable and protects communities’ rights.

- by Isabel Crabtree-Condor
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- Property Rights, Africa, Land tenure, Gender

Purpose: This study examines women's land rights under the customary system of Ile-Ife, Nigeria, intending to provide information that could inspire efforts to change women's lives and inform land policy. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative research approach was used in this study. Four key informant interviews and 13 structured interviews with rural women farmers were conducted during fieldwork in Ajebandele village, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Purposive and stratified sampling were used, respectively. In both cases, the interviews were conducted in the local language (Yoruba). The respondents' opinions were recorded using an audio recorder, interpreted, transcribed, and analysed through content analysis. Findings: The study discovered, among other things, that the customary land tenure system in Ajebandele village, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, has been refined over the last four decades to benefit women. Men and women have equal access to land rights in terms of land availability and affordability. Despite the progress, the study concludes that gender equality has not been wholly realised because rural women farmers lack tenure security. Practical implications: The findings confirm custom and tradition as a principal barrier to women's secure land rights. Governments and society can address women's insecure land rights through advocacy and awareness campaigns to revolutionise the community's mindsets and practices. Originality/Value: This study appears to be the first that examines women's customary land rights in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, thus contributing to the knowledge base on this topic.

Women's access to and control over productive resources, including land, have increasingly been recognised in global discussions as a key factor in reducing poverty, ensuring food security and promoting gender equality. Indeed, this argument has been widely accepted by both feminists and development theorists since the 1980s. Based on qualitative research with 50 purposively selected men and women in Ghana's Upper West region, this study explored the complexity of women's access to and control over land within a specific relationship of contestations, negotiations, and manipulations with men. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. While theoretically, participants showed that women's [secure] access to and control over land have beneficial consequences for women themselves, households and the community at large, in principle, women's access and control status was premised in the traditional framework, which largely deprives women of equal access and/or control over the land. The article indicates that even though land is the most revered resource and indeed, the dominant source of income for the rural poor, especially women,

- by Isaac Dery (PhD)
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- Gender and Access to Land

Post-cold war geopolitical transformations have affected the ways armed conflicts manifest and develop. Although overall more men than women continue to die as a result of conflict, the nature of warfare is changing in ways that increasingly endanger women and girls. Besides suffering from the general brutality inflicted by violent conflict, women also suffer particular attacks whose form is defined by distinct notions of female sexuality.
For that reason, it is unequivocal the need to draw attention to violence against women and girls in the context of the diverse armed conflicts. However, the ironic fact must be recognized that the upheaval of a conflict can break down social barriers and traditional patriarchal patterns, providing opportunities to integrate international legislation against gender discrimination into the domestic system. Such legislation, if implemented, will serve as a basis for the reconstruction of a more just and equitable society in the post-conflict phase.
Land is more than often identified as the basis of wealth, social status and power. It is the primary source for shelter, food and economic activities. Right to housing cannot be fulfilled if there is no access to land. Consequently, equal rights to access land are fundamentally important to the potential of building balanced gender relations in post-conflict societies and to integrate women to their new reality.
At the international level, land rights are contained in numerous international treaties and declarations. Broadly speaking, these human rights instruments do not directly articulate the right to access land and related rights, but create the obligation of non-discrimination and equal enjoyment of all rights for all people regardless of sex. UN instruments and documents interact and combine to constitute a legal and political base for the protection and enforcement of women’s land rights and must be considered holistic.

There exist various indicators that measure land tenure security for urbanites. Most of those indicators measure the degree to which land titling promotes the security of tenure. Based on the reviewed literature, it is admitted that land titling is not a panacea to land tenure security. Measuring the degree of land tenure security should not rely only on the legalisation of landownership.This paper makes a meta-analysis and conceptual modelling to connect spatial justice and land
tenure security. It discusses the potential of inclusive urban development grounded on the claim that spatial justice enhances land tenure security. A comprehensive framework of indicators which
can measure the degree of land tenure security from a spatial justice lens is thereafter derived. The meta-analysis and conceptual modelling were coupled with research synthesis to perform an in-depth review and qualitative content analysis of the literature on concepts of spatial justice, land tenure security, and urban (re)development processes. This study proposes 60 indicators which measure the degree of spatial justice and land tenure security along a continuum of spatial justice andland tenure security. Those indicators provide a more holistic approach for measuring land tenure security from a spatial justice lens than the separated sets of existing indicators.

There exist various indicators that measure land tenure security for urbanites. Most of those indicators measure the degree to which land titling promotes the security of tenure. Based on the reviewed literature, it is admitted that land titling is not a panacea to land tenure security. Measuring the degree of land tenure security should not rely only on the legalisation of landownership. This paper makes a meta-analysis and conceptual modelling to connect spatial justice and land tenure security. It discusses the potential of inclusive urban development grounded on the claim that spatial justice enhances land tenure security. A comprehensive framework of indicators which can measure the degree of land tenure security from a spatial justice lens is thereafter derived. The meta-analysis and conceptual modelling were coupled with research synthesis to perform an in-depth review and qualitative content analysis of the literature on concepts of spatial justice, land tenure security, and...

- by Walter Timo de Vries
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- Spatial planning, Land, Slum upgrading, Social and spatial justice
- by Ruth Evans
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- Bereavement, Senegal, Inheritance, Orphans and Vulnerable Children

What does it mean to have access to or to live on land? Why might it matter if 'God' was the owner? Morningstar Ranch was an experiment in social caring that was an embodiment of feminist non-tangible and healing labor. I contrast perceptions of the idea of being political as masculine and suggest the "drop out" hippie cultures of back-to-the-landers in Northern California were unjustly seen as apolitical from a point of view that obscures the labor of care. Mostly though, this addresses the idea of giving land to god. On Oct. 10, 1968, Lou Gottlieb, owner of some 31 acres north of San Francisco came before his local Board of Supervisors to offer his property to the people of Sonoma County "as an experiment in living." To learn more about Gottlieb's initiative, I contacted people who were part of this experiment in social caring that was an embodiment of feminist non-tangible and healing labor. I contrast perceptions of the political as masculine and suggest that "drop out" hippie cultures of back-to-the-landers in Northern California were unjustly seen as apolitical from a point of view that obscures the labor of healing and caring. Mostly though, this addresses the strategy of giving land to god.

- by Sarah A Lewison
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- Social Movements, Spirituality, Anarchism, Nationalism

Current Angolan municipalisation reforms present a unique opportunity to affect local practice on how community and individual land-holder tenure is administered and to protect women's equitable rights to land. Angola is a post-war country, with weak land tenure legislation and limited local government management capacity. The post-socialist inheritance has left the State as the formal owner of all land. In practice however there is an active informal land market, large scale-land grabs by urban elites, and increasing conflicts affecting communities, small holders and families, particularly those headed by women. Customary traditions are practiced in the various regions a of the country do not respect women’s rights of ownership and inheritance. More than 62 percent of the population live in informal settlements with insecure land tenure under the threat of forced evictions. Families living in poor communities affected by the expansion of cities and towns are particularly vulnerable. Of these, families lead by women are the most at risk. Securing rights to land and housing assets are important to livelihoods of women headed households by permitting access to financing that they require to grow their enterprises as well as upgrading their housing. The strategy to support women’s rights to land should be linked with institutional capacity building for the new municipal administrations. It is hoped that women’s participation in municipal elected decision-making bodies will support efforts to strengthen their tenure rights.

- by ALLAN CAIN
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- Land reform, Gender and Access to Land, Urban Land Rights