Zenebeworke Tadesse
Forum for Social Studies
Abstract
One outcome of the
deepening neo-liberal intervention in Africa has been the renewal of
debates on land tenure reform in a large number of African Countries. The
major trends in the debate revolve between the neo-liberal camp who
advocate for measures that would create the conditions that would enliven
the land market and those who seek tenure reforms that would expand and
deepen the process of democratisation. In most cases, both camps of the
debate tend to neglect the gender dimension of land tenure on reforms or
at best provide cursory mention of the issue. For their part, most
advocates of gender justice identify lack of land rights and lack of
access to land as a major factor constraining women's agricultural output
and income and recommend a blanket policy of ensuring women's land access
through titling.
The paper takes issues
with all these three major trends in the debate through a critical
exploration of a host of conceptual, macroeconomic, socio-political and
institutional factors that shape the interface between gender and land.
Issues discussed include the set of processes labelled as 'customary law'
as well as alternatives that are being proposed such as decentralised
institutions i.e. village government, village land administration,
succession and inheritance practices, systems of claims and dispute
settlement mechanisms. In a large number of African countries
constitutions have been revised and incorporate goals of gender equity and
an end to discrimination based on sex. However, some these countries have
not revised their civil codes in accordance with the new constitutional
goals. In most countries gender equitable legislation is promulgated but
often not implemented.
The paper concludes with
lessons learnt form research and advocacy on Women's land rights since the
1970s. While the complex array of gender disadvantages faced by Women in a
multitude of arenas such as the household, the community, the market and
the state cannot simply be remedied through legal instruments, there is
still an urgent need for context specific mandatory gender-equitable
government policies that are actually implemented. The process of
democratisation would be incomplete without a committed and innovative
effort to transform local level institutions towards a gender-equitable
direction. In the meantime, the focus on securing land rights need not
deter the need for imaginative advocacy for the removal of other equally
important constraints and promotions diversified likelihood strategies.
