Read at :
http://www.new-ag.info/en/book/review.php?a=2322
Women and land: Securing rights for better lives
By Debbie Budlender and Eileen Alma
Published by the International Development Research Centre
Website: www.idrc.ca
2011, 110pp, ISBN 978 1 55250 522 9 (Pb), free to download
In developing countries, women tend to be more concentrated in rural areas and more dependent on the land. Therefore, “in many places, unequal rights to land put women at a disadvantage, perpetuate poverty, and entrench gender inequality,” the authors state. Using research findings from 14 sub-Saharan countries, Women and land aims to provide detailed information on women’s complex relationship with land as a step towards achieving real change. “Unless we look at particular situations faced by particular groups of women in particular locations, it is difficult to craft policies that assist women seeking greater control over their lives,” the authors explain.
The relationship between customary and statutory law, the interplay of marital and land laws, national land policies and reform, and promotion and protection of inheritance rights are some of the topics covered. In Kenya, female membership on land control boards has led to a change in the public perception that land matters are exclusively a male domain, while in Rwanda researchers noted that while new laws have enhanced property rights for women in monogamous civil marriages, a large number of women still cohabit or are in a polygamous marriage. And in Cameroon, one controversial suggestion was that women’s increasing ability to access land may not represent a move toward gender equality, but instead reflect the decreasing importance attached to agriculture as a form of livelihood.
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