Africa

Gender, Land rights and Inheritance. Securing Women’s Land Rights: approaches prospects and challenges

This paper discusses the issues involved in women’s land interests and inheritiance, with reference to recent land tenure reforms in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda and reviews debate among gender justice activists about how related issues should be addressed, in particular the problems of customary law and land titling and registration and statutory law. Recent land and tenure reforms in Africa seek to improve women’s representation in land administration bodies: while this is not in contention, current policies also seek to build on customary systems instead of breaking with them.

To have and to hold: Women's Property and Inheritance Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa

Does women's lack of property rights increases household poverty and their vulnerability to HIV infection? Would securing these rights mitigate the impoverishing impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic? This paper seeks to answer these questions and

“Labour, land, and women’s rights in Africa: challenges for the new Protocol on the Rights of Women”

This paper discuss the additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, which was adopted in 2003, signed by thirty African states and ratified by at least half that number. The paper examines the challenges posed to this Protocol by existing dynamics related to labour, land and women’s rights.

“Is culture an obstacle to African economic development?”

The author states: “The central question addressed in this paper is the following: to what extent the governance problems of SSA have something to do with the cultural patrimony inherited by African states and countries, culture being understood as “those customary beliefs and values that ethnic, religious, and social groups transmit fairly unchanged from generation to generation” (Guiso et al., 2006: 23)?

“The evolutionary theory of land rights as applied to Sub-Saharan Africa: a critical assessment”

The evolutionary theory of land rights can be considered the dominant framework of analysis used by mainstream economists to assess the land tenure situation in developing countries, and to make predictions about its evolution.

“Impact of privatization on gender and property rights in Africa”

This paper explores the transformation of customary tenure systems and their impact on women's rights to land in Africa. Emphasis is placed on the diversity of land rights within customary tenure systems, the different institutions and structures (e.g., inheritance, marriage) that influence rights to land, and the trend toward uniformity and increasing patrilineal control.

“Women’s access to land in Africa"

This article begins by establishing women’s land and property rights within international human rights law. The author then moves to examine current systems of land tenure in Africa and the extent to which women are able to access their property rights. The article notes the discrepancy between women's responsibility for ensuring the family’s food supply and the general lack of recognition of women’s rights in land.

The Mystery of Capital Formation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Women, Property Rights and Customary Law

Economists such as Hernando De Soto have argued that clearly defined property rights are essential to capital formation and ultimately to economic growth and poverty alleviation. This article traces two impediments to the clear definition of property rights in the African context: customary law and the status of women. Both of these issues interfere with the attempt of African countries to rearticulate property law with the goal of capital formation.

Liberalisation, Gender, and the Land Question in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article focuses on land reform initiatives undertaken in sub-Saharan African countries since the late 1980s. Section 1 sheds light on the changes in land tenure during the economic liberalization of the region. Section 2 briefly examines the gender-blind "mainstream" theoretical debates on land, and gender-sensitive studies on land issues. Section 3 offers insights on land issues in Africa from a gender perspective.

Human rights, formalisation and women’s land rights in southern and eastern Africa

Land is a vital resource for rural livelihoods. Establishing and clarifying land rights through formalisation has become a key issue in development policies that aim to promote more productive uses of land. This report looks at some land reform initiatives from a gendered human rights perspective. The human rights-based approach (HRBA) has a direct bearing on international and national land reform policies, facilitating gender equality through elimination of discrimination against women. The overall aim of this report is to make a contribution to the operationalisation of the HRBA.