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Anatomy of women’s landlessness in the patrilineal customary land tenure systems of sub-Saharan Africa and a policy pathway

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  • Chigbu, Uchendu Eugene

Abstract

A typical character of land tenure or property systems in sub-Saharan Africa is that the systems exclude women (implicitly and explicitly). That is why the discourse on women and land tenure remains a burgeoning policy debate in sub-Saharan Africa. This study is relevant for land policy (and land governance) in sub-Saharan Africa because it evokes the minority voices of women in the land and gender discourse in sub-Saharan Africa. The study dissects, anatomically, female landlessness by probing why women still do not enjoy equal land rights today, and what must be done (policy-wise) to unchain women from their state of landlessness. By way of methodology, the study reviews relevant literature on the historical dimension of womenös access to property rights. It is an explorative study based on two e-Focus Group Discussions conducted on two different online platforms to enable the capture of more expert knowledge on the subject of customary land tenure, gender and womenös land rights in (and on) sub-Saharan Africa. The findings exposed three pillars of womenös landlessness in sub-Saharan Africa, including an analysis of the stages of male power that cripple womenös capacity to own or have access to land. The study identified and explained the nature of the contributions of different stages of male powers — including linguistic power, son power, husband power, and father power — to womenös landlessness. It shows how these powers form the elements of male dominance which interact over a life course to cripple womenös physical and psychological strength within their social spaces (which usually results into socio-political and economic disempowerments). As a key output, the study produced a policy pathway to neutralising the pillars of womenös landlessness.

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  • Chigbu, Uchendu Eugene, 2019. "Anatomy of women’s landlessness in the patrilineal customary land tenure systems of sub-Saharan Africa and a policy pathway," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 126-135.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:86:y:2019:i:c:p:126-135
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.04.041
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Ntihinyurwa, Pierre Damien & de Vries, Walter Timo & Chigbu, Uchendu Eugene & Dukwiyimpuhwe, Patrick Acklam, 2019. "The positive impacts of farm land fragmentation in Rwanda," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 565-581.
    4. Cheryl Doss & Chiara Kovarik & Amber Peterman & Agnes Quisumbing & Mara Bold, 2015. "Gender inequalities in ownership and control of land in Africa: myth and reality," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 46(3), pages 403-434, May.
    5. Chigbu, Uchendu Eugene, 2019. "Masculinity, men and patriarchal issues aside: How do women’s actions impede women’s access to land? Matters arising from a peri-rural community in Nigeria," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 39-48.
    6. Uchendu Eugene Chigbu & Anna Schopf & Walter T. de Vries & Fahria Masum & Samuel Mabikke & Danilo Antonio & Jorge Espinoza, 2017. "Combining land-use planning and tenure security: a tenure responsive land-use planning approach for developing countries," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(9), pages 1622-1639, September.
    7. David Brown, 2017. "Social dimensions of land rights reform in Liberia: Some unresolved issues and policy dilemmas," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 35, pages 270-286, October.
    8. Amy C. Alexander & Ronald Inglehart & Christian Welzel, 2016. "Emancipating Sexuality: Breakthroughs into a Bulwark of Tradition," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 909-935, November.
    9. Jewkes, R. & Morrell, R., 2012. "Sexuality and the limits of agency among South African teenage women: Theorising femininities and their connections to HIV risk practises," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(11), pages 1729-1737.
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    Cited by:

    1. Barikisa Owusu Ansah & Uchendu Eugene Chigbu, 2020. "The Nexus between Peri-Urban Transformation and Customary Land Rights Disputes: Effects on Peri-Urban Development in Trede, Ghana," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-28, June.
    2. Kohima, Jennilee Magdalena & Chigbu, Uchendu Eugene & Mazambani, Malcon Liyali & Mabakeng, Menare Royal, 2023. "(Neo-)segregation, (neo-)racism, and one-city two-system planning in Windhoek, Namibia: What can a new national urban policy do?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
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    4. Gwaleba, Method Julius & Chigbu, Uchendu Eugene, 2020. "Participation in property formation: Insights from land-use planning in an informal urban settlement in Tanzania," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. Uchendu Eugene Chigbu, 2020. "e-Tracking COVID-19 Disruptions to the Global Development Agenda on Land," International Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 26(1), pages 1-9, September.
    6. Aziz, Noshaba & Ren, Yanjun & Rong, Kong & Zhou, Jin, 2021. "Women’s empowerment in agriculture and household food insecurity: Evidence from Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
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    8. Aziz, Noshaba & Nisar, Qasim Ali & Koondhar, Mansoor Ahmed & Meo, Muhammad Saeed & Rong, Kong, 2020. "Analyzing the women’s empowerment and food security nexus in rural areas of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan: By giving consideration to sense of land entitlement and infrastructural facilities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Paula Gabriela Núñez & Carolina Lara Michel & Paula Alejandra Leal Tejeda & Martín Andrés Núñez, 2020. "Rural Women’s Invisible Work in Census and State Rural Development Plans: The Argentinean Patagonian Case," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-25, March.
    10. Adewunmi, Yewande & Chigbu, Uchendu Eugene & Mwando, Sam & Kahireke, Uaurika, 2023. "Entrepreneurship role in the co-production of public services in informal settlements − A scoping review," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).

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