Full citation: Deere, C. D. and Leon, M., “Who Owns the Land? Gender and Land-Titling Programmes in Latin America,” 1(3) JOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE 440 (July 2001). – The main focus of state intervention in Latin American agriculture in the 1990s was on land-titling programs, designed to promote security of tenure and enliven land markets. A review of seven of these projects suggests that they were often designed without sufficient attention to civil codes and marital regimes that protect women’s property rights. They often ignored that a household’s endowment of land may consist of three forms of property: the wife’s, […]
Record Category: Research Articles
Liberalisation and the Debates on Women’s Access to Land
Full citation: Razavi, S., “Liberalisation and the Debates on Women’s Access to Land,” 28(8) THIRD WORLD QUARTERLY 1479 (December 2007). – This article focuses on the tensions and ambiguities that may keep women from effectively accessing land. Barriers include liberalization policies that focus on “family farming,” customary land tenure systems, and decentralization of land management. Women’s rights advocates fear that these can be manipulated by groups hostile to women’s rights. [Threats to Women’s Land Tenure Security and Effectiveness of Interventions – Annotated Bibliography]
Hindu Women’s Property Rights in India: A Critical Appraisal
Full citation: Patel, R. (2006). “Hindu Women’s Property Rights in India: A Critical Appraisal.” Third World Quarterly, 27(7), 1255–1268. – This paper looks at changes in Hindu women’s position regarding property rights, and argues that rights conferred through law must be analyzed in light of their contexts (cultural, historical, etc.) to determine their practical legitimacy. It addresses the need to critically define the bases and contours of ‘rights’ as created by law. Taking the example of changes in Hindu women’s position in relation to property through the rights generated by statutory and constitutional provisions, the article critically evaluates the potential for such […]
Women’s Land Rights and Children’s Human Capital in Vietnam
Full citation: Menon, N., van der Meulen Rodgers, Y., and Nguyen, H. (2014). “Women’s Land Rights and Children’s Human Capital in Vietnam.” World Development, 54, 18-31. – Vietnam’s 1993 Land Law created a land market by granting households land-use rights which could be exchanged, leased, and mortgaged. Using a matched household sample from Vietnam’s 2004 and 2008 Household Living Standards Survey, this study analyzes whether land titling for women led to improvements in child health and education. Results from the land market indicate that female-only held land-use rights decreased the incidence of illness among children, increased their health insurance coverage, […]
The gender asset gap: land in Latin America
Full citation: Deere, C. and Leon, M. (2003). “The gender asset gap: land in Latin America.” World Development, 31 (6), pp 925-947. – The gender asset gap in Latin America with respect to ownership of land is significant. In few countries do women constitute even one-quarter of the landowners. Gender inequality in land ownership is related to male preference in inheritance, male privilege in marriage, male bias in community and state programs of land distribution as well as gender bias in the land market, with women less likely than men to be successful buyers. But there are also important differences […]
Gender and sustainable forest management in East Africa and Latin America
Full citation: Mwangi, E., Meinzen-Dick, R. and Sun, Y. (2011). “Gender and sustainable forest management in East Africa and Latin America.” Ecology and Society 16(1): 17. – This paper presents a comparative study of forest management across four countries in East Africa and Latin America: Kenya, Uganda, Bolivia, and Mexico. It focuses on whether varying proportions of women (low, mixed, high) in forest user groups influence their likelihood of adopting forest resource enhancing behavior and finds that higher proportions of females in user groups, and especially user groups dominated by females, perform less well than mixed groups or male dominated […]
Gender, social capital and information exchange in rural Uganda
Full citation: Katungi, E., Edmeades, S., and Smale, M. (2008). Gender, social capital and information exchange in rural Uganda. J. Int. Dev., 20: 35–52. – Established social structures, such as grassroots associations, have contributed to efforts at agricultural development in rural areas. By disaggregating the analysis by the gender of the household head, the study provides a detailed assessment of how differences among male and female heads of households influence information diffusion in rural areas. Results support the premise that social capital significantly influences information exchange among rural households, with evidence of gender disparities in the process. Female heads of households […]
On the Edge of the Law: Women’s Property Rights and Dispute Resolution in Kisii, Kenya
Full citation: Henrysson, E. and Joireman, S. (2009). “On the Edge of the Law: Women’s Property Rights and Dispute Resolution in Kisii, Kenya.” Law Society Review 43(1), 39-60. – This study used interviews and focus groups to explore property disputes and perceptions of formal and customary systems of dispute resolution. The initial interviews were structured and conducted with various groups and individuals. In Kenya, government efforts at establishing clearly defined property rights and adjudication mechanisms have run up against alternative processes for the adjudication of disputes. This research demonstrates that customary processes may also carry a monetary cost that puts […]
Gender and Land Tenure Reform
Full citation: Giovarelli, R. (2009). “Gender and Land Tenure Reform,” in ONE BILLION RISING 196 (R. Prosterman, et al. eds., Leiden U. Press). – This chapter talks about specific threats to women’s land rights. They include that it may be culturally or legally impossible for women to acquire land rights through markets, inheritance, transfer or gift; that a woman’s marital status (marriage, divorce, bride price, dowry or polygamy) may create barriers to women’s land rights; that privatization or individualization of land may result in loss of non-ownership rights that women have to land (e.g., the right to use land); and […]
Cocoa, Marriage, Labour, and Land in Ghana: Some Matrilineal and Patrilineal Perspectives
Full citation: Duncan, B.A. (2010). “Cocoa, Marriage, Labour, and Land in Ghana: Some Matrilineal and Patrilineal Perspectives.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 80 (2), 301–21. – Based on field research conducted between April 2006 and November 2007 in four matrilineal and two patrilineal communities located in the Brong Ahafo, Western and Volta regions, the study sets out important changes taking place within the institutions of marriage, land tenure and conjugal labour relations, within the cocoa production sector. Many scholars have documented systems of land exchange between husbands and wives for services rendered within the context of cocoa farming. […]