Contexts for Women & Land in
Developing Countries:
Women
are primary agricultural producers, cultivating between 60 and 80 per cent of
the food in most developing countries, and ensure household food security.
Women’s lack of access to and control over land is a key factor contributing to
their poverty, with devastating results for households and communities, and
needs to be addressed if poverty and hunger are to be reduced.
Large scale
investments in agriculture, often foreign, raise manifold expectations
concerning their impact on the development of the world's poorest countries.
These countries often do not have enough capital, and they may welcome foreign
governments and companies to invest in their agricultural sector, to acquire
land.
WHAT
ARE SOME OF THE RISKS INVOLVED, THAT MAY SERIOUSLY IMPACT THE LIVES OF WOMEN,
AND ESPECIALLY RURAL WOMEN AND WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE?
Host
countries often have insufficient regulations to protect their population. For
example, land tenure is complicated in many African countries, and land rights
are often customary with no written evidence of usage of ownership - hence
governments can sell the land often without consulting the local communities
living on the land. Thus local farmers may be displaced when their land is sold
to foreign investors, and they may or may noot be compensated for this land.
When locals lose access to land, they may also lose an important means of
sustaining their livelihoods. Even when there is alot of idle arable land,
investors may buy the most fertile lands, and locals who were using it could be
moved to other areas with less suitable characteristics for agriculture.
Further, when land is declared "unused" by the government, it may
still be used by local people for grazing animals, gathering fuel wood or
medicinal plants. This type of land use often serves as a safety net against
band harvests for the communities, which vanishes when the land is sold to an
investor and may be fenced off.
In addition
to land use, water use may also be negatively affected if rules of access to
water are not clearly spelled out in contracts. In most contracts, there is no
clear definition of water use rights, causing local people to have less water
in areas with water shortage and affecting negatively both agricultural
production, livelihoods, and overall lives at the same time.
The
acquisition of land by investors, "land deals" may also create,
including in entry of foreign products, competition in local agricultural
markets, thus potentially decreasing prices for products marketed by local
producers.
Those who
have lost their agricultural land and livelihoolds, may be forced to buy
products at much higher prices, and with little income to afford such foods.
There may
also be concerns for protection of natural resources and the
environment, and the need for national regulatory institutions and
enforcement of contracts for land.
(Scroll down to:FAOVoluntary Guidelines on
Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context
of National Food Security.)
The percentage of land owned by women is disproportionately small
considering their crucial contribution to agriculture and especially the food
security of households and communities. The existing gender inequality in
access to and control over natural resources is an obstacle to their
sustainable management and to sustainable development in general.
There are two key arguments for promoting women’s land rights:
Women’s human rights are
violated
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that human rights
apply equally to all, regardless of sex, yet women around the world are
disproportionately affected by human rights violations, which keeps them
trapped in poverty. Women have fewer benefits and protections under legal
systems than men and are largely excluded from decision-making structures.
Women also lack control of financial resources, have larger work burdens,
and are more likely to suffer from social isolation and threats or acts of
violence.
Women’s key role in food
security and natural resource management is not recognised
Women are primary agricultural producers, cultivating between 60 and 80 per
cent of the food in most developing countries, and ensure household food
security. Studies have found that agricultural productivity increases when
women are given the same inputs as men. Yet frequently women access land
through male relatives only, and not in their own right. Women’s lack of
access to and control over land is a key factor contributing to their
poverty, with devastating results for households and communities, and
needs to be addressed if poverty and hunger are to be reduced.
What can be done?
Women’s access to and control over resources is shaped by complex systems of
common and civil law as well as customary and religious laws and practices.
International law and conventions such as CEDAW
(Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women)
protect women’s human rights in signatory states, but are often at odds with
national legislation, the actual enforcement of legislation, or local practices.
Furthermore, the practise and perception of a woman’s position in the
household, family and community affects to what extent women can exercise their
land rights.
The ability to access land and to claim, use and defend rights to natural
resources is contingent on processes of empowerment. Women face additional
hurdles to empowerment, ranging from their status within household and
community to discriminatory customary or statutory laws – such hurdles need to
be addressed to contribute to women’s empowerment, political, legal and
economic, and to transforming gender roles so that women participate in society
on an equal footing.
A frequent criticism of efforts for women’s empowerment and gender equality
is that “western feminism” is a form of cultural imperialism lacking respect
for local tradition and culture. On the contrary, a feminist approach
challenges inequality between the sexes – much like inequality of wealth – as
an obstacle to people-centred development.
For International Land Coalition, the goal of working together on women’s
land rights is to influence global, regional and national processes to enable
women’s secure and equitable access to land.
Promoting secure tenure rights and equitable access to
natural resources
The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land,
Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security promote secure
tenure rights and equitable access to land, fisheries and forests as a means of
eradicating hunger and poverty, supporting sustainable development and
enhancing the environment.
On 11 May 2012 the Committee on World Food
Security (CFS) officially endorsed the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible
Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of
National Food Security.
CORRUPTION LEADING TO UNEQUAL ACCESS
& USE OF LAND - UN - WOMEN
12 December 2011 – Corruption
caused by weak governance is leading to unequal land distribution and poor
resource management, according to a United Nations report released today, which
argues that this lack of transparency is undermining social stability,
investment and growth in developing countries.
Weak land
governance occurs as a result of low levels of transparency, accountability and
the rule of law, the report says, which
strains “the rules, processes and institutions that determine which land
resources are used, by whom, for how long, and under what conditions.”
The report,
jointly produced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Transparency International, found that
in more than 61 countries weak governance has increased the likelihood of corruption
in land occupancy and administration, intensifying the impact of pressures on
land use, agriculture and food security worldwide.......