“Women, land, labour and survival: getting some basic facts straight”

In the context of the current food crisis confronting most sub-Saharan African economies the need to unmask the identities of rural producers from a gender perspective is reinforced. This article focuses on three major issues which have tended towards ambiguity in analyses of rural political economy. First, the question of women's differential land use rights is analysed in terms of the impact agricultural modernisation has had on traditional status. Second, the complexity in household form and composition is drawn out. Finally, the support systems women rely on in times of impending disaster to ward off economic crises are examined.