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Key Text Human Rights, Formalisation and Women’s Land Rights in Southern and Eastern Africa

Author: I Ikdahl and A Hellum
Date: 2005
Size: 148 pages (820 KB)

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Summary

Land is a vital resource for rural livelihoods. How far has land reform advanced in Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya? These are societies where, among the indigenous population, men have had primary land rights and women secondary derivative rights. How effectively has gender equality been implemented in their land reform policies? What problems need to be resolved, what are the forces resisting change and what remains to be done? This report from the University of Oslo and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences was commissioned by the Norwegian Agency of Development Cooperation. It adopted the human rights based approach (HRBA), to spell out a human rights framework for gender-equal and non-discriminatory land reform/formalisation processes.

In traditional African societies there was no individual ownership of land. Unwritten customary law dispensed by male elders favoured men and discriminated against women. This affected rights to use of land, inheritance and the sharing of property following divorce. New Constitutions and statutory legislation have begun to change socio-legal and economic conditions for land users. A key issue in development policies, recognised by both neo-liberal approaches and the HRBA, is to establish, clarify and formalise land rights. The aim is to promote tenure security, land production and sustainable rural livelihoods, ensuring gender equality.

Land reform in each of the five countries encountered both similar and dissimilar challenges. The research agreed with Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women committee reports, which have noted that much work remains to be done to make sure that women's land rights do not simply exist on paper, but are also enforced.

The five countries studied have signed and ratified international treaties and conventions in favour of gender equality which make discrimination against women illegal. Some successful legal challenges to customary law provide hope that further changes are possible. Resistance comes from male vested interests and lack of political will by governments.
In Africa women farmers do most of the work: Land rights will empower them, give them security, and promote sustainable family livelihoods.
The HRBA focuses on the individual rather than on the family as a composite unit in which male preferences tend to dominate.
Gendered change is needed in the private sphere (for example, divorce and inheritance laws) and in the public sphere (for example, women's rights to secure loans in their own names).
Affirmative action (for example, education and information for women as well as rights to participate in decision making) is needed to ensure change.
Access to legal remedy and an independent and accountable judiciary are required.

Land reform which ensures gender equality is a right that needs to be promoted alongside other related rights.

The HRBA to development highlights the responsibilities of national governments to implement land reform on a gendered basis.
The international community must conduct gender impact assessments to monitor change in both the public and the private spheres.
Formalised land rights provide collateral and market opportunities to buy and sell land.
Gendered land rights by themselves are insufficient for development. For example, agricultural services are necessary.
The 2003 World Bank report which treated people as means to economic ends and not as ends in themselves needs to be challenged by the HRBA.

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Source: Ikdahl, I et al.,2005, 'Human Rights, Formalisation and Women’s Land Rights in Southern and Eastern Africa', Studies in Women's Law no 57, Institute of Women's Law, University of Oslo, Norway