Women, land tenure and food security
One of the most serious obstacles to increasing the agricultural productivity and income of rural women is their lack of security of tenure. Land tenure refers to a set of rights which a person or organisation holds in land. Security of tenure is not limited to private ownership but can exist in a variety of forms such as leases on public land or user rights to communal property. If tenure is secure, the holder can reasonably expect to use the land to its best advantage in accordance with the right, reap a timely and fair return and be able to enforce the right against non-holders. Tenure enables the holder to make management decisions on how land-based resources will be used for immediate household needs and long-term sustainable investment long-term sustainable investment. In order for women farmers, who are responsible for 60-80% of the food production in developing countries, to use land more efficiently and thereby make a greater contribution to food security, they need access to land, management control of land-based resources, and economic incentives that security of tenure provides. |
WHY WOMEN FARMERS DON'T HAVE SECURITY OF TENURE
Historically women's access to land was based on status within the family and involved right of use, not ownership. In Asia, the most prevalent barrier to acquiring real property is inheritance laws which favour male inheritance over female. If a woman inherits property, it is managed by her husband. Hindu women formally hold rights in property for life only; at death it reverts back to the male line. In Africa, custom rather than religious practice excludes women from ownership; property is held in a man's name and passed partrilineally with the group. A widow's right to remain on the land is not secure. In Latin America, discrimination results more from limited status under the law. Women, for example, may reach majority age at 21, but still be required to be represented by their husbands in all legal capacities.
Land reform, legislative reform and the forces of modernization have had a mixed effect. Agrarian reform or resettlement programs use the "head of family" concept, usually a male, as the basis of land reallocation. Few have significant numbers of female beneficiaries or even pay attention to gender as a beneficiary category. New legislation on equality for women is more applicable to the urban-employed class than rural persons: agricultural land is even excluded in some new inheritance schemes. Statutory reform of customary law is confusing and open to interpretation; when customary. religious or statutory systems coexist, the law least favorable to women is often selected. Traditional or customary systems that might have protected a woman's access to land during her lifetime are breaking down under population, economic and environmental pressures. Growing male rural to urban migration is leaving women as de facto heads of household without management authority over land resources. Even under resettlement schemes in irrigated areas. women de facto heads of household rarely benefit.
In some cases, however, women have gained better access to land through land reform, generally where the participation of rural women is a well-defined state policy. In some countries, agrarian reforms replaced the feudal system where women traditionally held a subordinate role in family production. women's organisations; in Thailand. China, Nicaragua, Malaysia and Cuba have helped to overcome existing barriers or to protect women's rights regarding inheritance of land. There are also many instances where women's organisations; have fought to gain access to land which they farm collectively.
LIMITATIONS THE MARRIED WOMEN'S CAPACITY WITH RESPECT TO PROPERTY IN THE CIVIL CODES OF VARIOUS LATIN-AMERICAN COUNTRIES
COUNTRY |
HOW MARITAL AUTHORITY IS REPRESENTED IN THE CIVIL CODES |
Chile |
The husband is the administrator and representative of the conjugal property under the community property regime. |
Ecuador |
Unless agreed otherwise in the marriage contract, the husband administers the conjugal property. |
El Salvador |
The husband administers his wife's assets if she is a minor. |
Guatemala |
The husband administers the property under both the community property and the property of conjugal partnership regimes. |
Mexico (States of Aguas Calientes, Oaxaca and Sonora) |
The husband administers the conjugal property under the community properly regime. |
Nicaragua |
The husband is the family's representative or, in his absence, the wife (Civil Code, Art. 151). In practice, however, this does not appear to have any economic consequences. |
Paraguay |
Unless otherwise stated in the marriage contract, the husband is the administrator of the property. |
Dominican Republic |
The husband administers the property, even under the separate property regime. |
The data in this fable were taken from the case studies and papers presented at the Round Table on "Legal Mechanisms to facilitate women Participation in Rural Development.
EFFECT ON FOOD SECURITY
50% of the world's resource-poor farmers are women who also have primary responsibility for food security. Their success in meeting daily household needs depends on how well they manage and supplement a limited and delicately balanced set of resources: cropland pasture and forest. Without land and secure tenure a woman cannot access credit and membership in agricultural associations particularly those responsible for processing and marketing. If tenure is secure a woman can invest in rather than exploit the land's productive potential and is more likely to adopt environmentally sustainable farming practices. She can plan and quickly adjust resource allocation decisions under changing climate or economic conditions and rely on the productive results of her labour.
Control of the product is also an important consideration in examining women's land rights. Security of tenure is often the key to having control over major decisions such as what crop to grow what techniques to use and the decision as to what to consume and what to sell. Given women's tendency to grow food as opposed to cash crops and to spend income on family food. security of tenure for women must be viewed as a key link in the chain from household food production to national food security.
Percentage of Ownership of Cultivated Land by Women Farmers in Thailand, Trinidad, Nigeria. Syria
Land Ownership |
Thailand % |
Trinidad % |
Nigeria % |
Syria % |
Personally owned |
22 |
9 |
4 |
- |
Husband's land |
39 |
30 |
23 |
41 |
Gift from husband |
- |
- |
30 |
- |
Family land |
10 |
9 |
12 |
36 |
Government land |
- |
25 |
||
Communal land |
- |
- |
20 |
- |
Squatted land |
- |
9 |
- |
- |
Rented land |
29 |
19 |
11 |
22.5 |
Source. Manju. Dutta Das, Improving the Relevance and Effectiveness of Agricultural Extension
Activities for Women Farmers , FAO , 1995, p. 37.
A WAY OUT?
1 Comprehensive tenure reform for women that considers marriage. inheritance and contract rights should be made a priority food security issue.
2. Legislative and policy initiatives should reflect women's actual experience and needs; the reform process should be participatory.
3. Reform should be matched with legal literacy training for men and women. particularly on the relationship between law and rural productivity.
4. Greater attention should be given the alternative forms of ownership and management such as cooperatives and self help groups including women. The Beijing Platform for Action and the FAO Women in Development Plan of
Action make removal of barriers the women's access the land a high priority.
THE ERITREAN APPROACH Land tenure legislation promulgated in 1994 reflects a strong policy of gender equality. The right of ownership of all land in Eritrea is the exclusive right of the government. Every Eritrean citizen whose main source of income is the land has a lifetime right of usufruct over land with the provision that such a right is neither divisible nor inheritable. Eritreans qualify automatically for land upon attainment of age 18 regardless of sex religion or marital status; individual holdings are registered and lifetime usufructory title-deeds issued. Source: Proclamation to Reform the System of Land Tenure ill Eritrea. No. 58/1994 |
Country |
Women's Land Holdings as % of Total Agricultural Holdings |
Average Size of Holdings (Hectares) | |
Women's |
Men's | ||
Benin |
11 |
0.98 |
1 .76 |
Congo |
25 |
||
Morocco |
14 |
0.5 |
1 |
Tanzania |
25 |
0.53 |
0.73 |
Zimbabwe |
Small-scale commercial sector: 3 |
1.86 |
2.73 |
Women and Population Division
Sustainable Development Department,
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla,
00100 Rome
Italy
Telephone 39 6 52251
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