Gender

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Gender Land

• By Ritu Verma, PLAAS

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Role Play

• Role Play
• Background Madagascar is currently carrying out
  a land reform process that is pushing for the
  privatization and registration of land. However,
  much of land inheritance takes place through
  customary laws (and orally).
• Gender land tenure Women normally gain access to
  land through usufruct rights (use and access
  through patrilineal forms of inheritance and
  descent) although unmarried daughters, divorced
  women or those born into families where there are
  no brothers can inherit land. This is a context
  where women are not allowed to speak in public,
  and their families discourage them to join
  womens groups. Statutory laws give women and
  men equal rights to land.
• A local meeting in the community
• a economically poor rural woman (a recent widow)
• her brother-in-law who wants to grab her marital
  land
• a district land board officer who is demanding
  bribes
• a chief who is heavy handed and patriarchal
• a womens group representative who is advocating
  for land rights
• a woman who sits on the local district council
  which is dominated by men despite a 1/3
  affirmative action law)
• her father who can be prevailed upon to provide
  land

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Learning from the Role Play

• Think about designing an action research project
  on these issues on the ground
• How would you design your project, methodology
  and strategies for advocacy to make a difference
  for womens rights to land in this area?
• What are the mechanisms that are not working
  (different and entrenched mind-sets, processes
  that block empowerment, etc.)

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Land Issues

• How does the above vary according to
  positionality?
• Access
• Control and decision-making
• Use rights
• Ownership
• Common property
• Land use
• Division of labour
• In relationship to other resources (economic,
  social, cultural, spiritual, environmental,
  symbolic, political, etc.)

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Legal Pluralism

• Customary laws
• Impacts and legacy from colonial interventions ?
  privilege and advantage of men
• Changing, organic, adaptive, responsive to
  change, etc.
• Custom is used as defence against womens
  empowerment and land rights
• Living customary law
• Reclaim the customary
• Statutory laws
• State laws, policies, constitutional rights, etc.

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Legal Pluralism

• Beyond Dualism statutory customary law
• Pluralism statutory multiple customary laws
• Focus for Policy and advocacy to influence
  transformative change
• Those working on statutory laws and institutions
  (parliamentarians, law makers, development
  organizations, etc.)
• Gate-keepers of customary laws and institutions
  (elders, chiefs, customary leaders, etc.)

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Overlapping Legal Domains

• Simplistic Concepts
• Statutory as good customary as bad
• Statutory as bad customary as good
• Bad examples of both
• Good examples of both
• Overlapping legal domains
• Provide women space to access and engage in both,
  or either one
• Provide women room to manoeuvre, negotiate and
  bargain
• Politics of Land
• Micro-politics of land

Customary
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Womens Movements for Land Rights

• Challenges
• Working in corners (national or sub-regional)
• Womens movements burn out, fatigue, fracturing
• Womens movement is not homogeneous
• Challenges and back-sliding of gains already made
• Mistrust of outsiders (land grabbing)
• Opportunities
• Work sub-regionally (add energy, learn new things
  and share expereinces)
• Collective action, sharing and building a
  community of practice
• Resistance and protest
• Grass-roots advocacy (testimonials, voices,
  sharing experiences, radio, womens groups,
  networks, shelters, watchdog groups, legal aid,
  etc.)
• Focus on statutory decision-makers AS WELL AS
  customary leaders

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Thank You !