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Who Owns the Land? Perspectives from Rural Ugandans and Implications for Large-Scale Land Acquisitions

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  • Cheryl Doss
  • Ruth Meinzen-Dick
  • Allan Bomuhangi

Abstract

Rapidly growing demand for agricultural land is putting pressure on property-rights systems, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where customary tenure systems have provided secure land access. Rapid and large-scale demands from outsiders are challenging patterns of gradual, endogenous change toward formalization. Little attention has focused on the gender dimensions of this transformation. However this contribution, based on a 2008-09 study of land tenure in Uganda, analyzes how different definitions of land ownership - including household reports, existence of ownership documents, and rights over the land - provide very different indications of the gendered patterns of land ownership and rights. While many households report husbands and wives as joint owners of the land, women are less likely to be listed on ownership documents, and have fewer rights. A simplistic focus on "title" to land misses much of the reality regarding land tenure and could have an adverse impact on women's land rights.

Suggested Citation

  • Cheryl Doss & Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Allan Bomuhangi, 2014. "Who Owns the Land? Perspectives from Rural Ugandans and Implications for Large-Scale Land Acquisitions," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 76-100, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:20:y:2014:i:1:p:76-100
    DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2013.855320
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    1. Carmen Diana Deere & Rosa Luz Durán & Merrilee Mardon & Tom Masterson, 2004. "Female Land Rights and Rural Household Incomes in Brazil, Paraguay and Peru," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2004-08, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    2. Otsuka, Keijiro & Place, Frank (ed.), 2001. "Land tenure and natural resource management: A comparative study of agrarian communities in Asia and Africa," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number 0-8018-6747-9.
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