Finding lasting solutions to Africa’s land problems is a bigger step towards Africa’s development as land and climate change are primordial in the world today. Women produce 80% of the food consumed in the world today, but live in extreme poverty. Enhancing their land rights has a number of crucial benefits for them and their families, both economic and social which could result to increased security allowing for women to access credits, to buy key agricultural inputs, or make other investments to increase food production.
Women and land rights; access, control and ownership of land
Women’s access to, ownership and control of land has been a great issue of concern in the world since time immemorial. Yet for decades, efforts to distribute agricultural land more equitably consistently excluded women. Over the years, there has been remarkable improvement in enhancing their access through national and international legislature but much still has to be done given that, access is different from control as seen in the case of many poor rural women who have access to land and use it, but are generally far less likely than men to have control over it and its products or to own it. The situation however differs from one continent to another based on the laws, customs, traditions and way of life of each particular group of persons.
Despite various international and regional instruments such as the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol in 2000,the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action (BDPA), the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights in 2003, and the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in 2004 which provided for the protection, respect and promotion of women’s property rights in Africa, including land rights, the 2004 African Gender and Development Index (AGDI) findings from 12 African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Uganda) revealed that, women’s access to land was on average less than half of that enjoyed by men.
This is further substantiated by the fact that, in many parts of Africa for example, the majority of the population is still rural, and the overwhelming majority of rural households are mainly agricultural, with women producing more than 80% of the food, yet owning only 1% of the land. They face significant barriers in agriculture, especially inequalities in access to and control over crucial resources and inputs such as land, labour, fertilizer and formal finance. According to World Bank research in central Europe in 2013, in some areas of the Balkans like Albania, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, female property ownership could be as low as 3%.
Constitutional protection of women’s rights is widespread, yet laws continue to constrain them. Today, the constitutions of over 149 countries in the world call for equal protection under the law. Notwithstanding, statutory laws in most of this countries have not been amended or introduced to implement the protection afforded under the constitution. In those countries where efforts have been done to internalize these constitutional protections, girls do not still enjoy equal rights with their brothers and women do not enjoy equal rights with their husbands to own and control land and property in almost all of the 149 countries. However, in other parts of Europe, Asia and the Americas, the situation is not exactly the same because women land ownership is greatly improved.
According to a study by Magdalena Leon, in Latin America the gender asset gap with respect to ownership of land is significant with women constituting one-quarter of land owners in few countries. Gender inequality in land ownership is related to male preference in inheritance, male privilege in marriage, male bias in community and state programs of land distribution as well as gender bias in the land market, with women less likely than men to be successful buyers. But there are also important differences by gender in how land is acquired. Inheritance is the primary means by which most women become landowners; men are much more likely than women to acquire land through its distribution by communities or the state and via the market.
In Italy for example, the principle of equal opportunity is grounded in the Italian Constitution (Arts. 3, 37, 51) and Italy became a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1985, acceding to the CEDAW Optional Protocol in 2000 coupled with many other legislative dispositions warranting for equality between men and women. But just like many other countries, measures to ensure their implementation remain weak. This however does not mean that women’s access to and control of land is beyond standards.
In countries like China, Chinese women’s property rights are specifically protected under the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women; which provides for equal rights to property and protection of women’s property rights in the case of marriage or divorce. However, this differs in both rural and urban areas. In rural areas, women tend to be disadvantaged through the process of allocating rights to state-owned land because of the custom that, if a woman marries outside of her village, the land that had been allocated to her would be redistributed to other members of the village and if she arrives after the distribution of land in her husband’s village then she has no land. In urban areas on the other hand, most houses or apartments tend to be registered under the head of the household, who is typically the male, even though specific provision exists for joint registration of property titles .As a result just over one third of Chinese women own property compared to more than two thirds of men.
In Cameroon, women produce 80% of food in rural communities, own 2% of the land and benefit only 5% of the total agricultural inputs. Their access to land depends on their relationship with men: either as husbands, fathers, brothers or male relatives. Land acquisition is either through inheritance, purchase or distribution by the state none of which favours women. As a result of the persistence of this situation, the committee on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women in its concluding observations on the combined 4th and firth periodic reports of Cameroon in 2014, expressed concern about Land grabbing from indigenous people and small-scale farmers, resulting in the loss of their self-sufficient livelihood, and obstacles to obtaining land titles, including prohibitive land transaction fees, which disproportionately affect women.
In Kenya, according to the results of a study jointly carried out by the world bank and the Thomson Reuters foundation in 2013, when determining distribution of property upon divorce or separation, the court takes into account both monetary and non-monetary contributions, allowing women’s care giving and other household related contributions to be valued in determining the appropriate allocations.
In Bangladesh on the other hand, notwithstanding those statutory laws which provide for men and women to have equal right to purchase and own land, in practice this is limited by inheritance rules that are governed by Shariah Law and which disadvantage women and girls. However, in 1987, the Government of Bangladesh adopted the Khas Land Management and Distribution Policy, according to which landless peasants should get priority in receiving khas land and which guaranteed joint ownership of land between husband and wife. It also set criteria for widows and abandoned women to be given priority to own khas land. As a result, 182 women of a rural area named Beel Kuralia now own khas land in their individual name. This land ensures their families’ food security.
In Senegal, no matter how diverse their land practices may be, they share a common characteristic which is that, they overlook women when making decisions about land. Thus, just like in most parts of Africa, women have limited access to and control of land. It is a country of many ethnicities and diverse agricultural zones. The Wolof and Sévère predominate in the country’s Peanut Basin, where they grow cash crops such as peanuts and millet. In the Casamance, most people are Diola and produce rice. In the wooded grasslands, Peul nomads use land to pasture livestock. People in these and other zones follow a variety of customs.
In Namibia, the situation has witnessed great change over the past few years. Much of the rural population lives on communal land owned by the State and customarily allocated to members of the community by traditional leaders. Under pre-independence customary law, women’s access to land was primarily through their husbands, fathers or some other male relative. Under the Communal Land Reform Act of 2002, there are no bars to gender equality in the allocation of communal land – but there is neither direct articulation of the principle of non-discrimination, nor any affirmative action for women. Land continues to be allocated by traditional leaders, with the allocations being ratified by community land boards, about one third of whose members should be women.
In Zambia, while both women and men may acquire a registered land title under the Lands Act, customary land tenure is also recognized and administered by the Local Courts pursuant to customary traditions with the widely held belief that, the husband is the provider for the family, and accordingly there is no need for a woman to acquire land in her own name. Consequently, married women are unlikely to be allocated land under the customary system without the husband’s prior approval.
Similarly, in North Sudan notwithstanding that women and men are treated equally under North Sudanese land law, in rural areas land issues are generally dealt with under customary laws which are rooted in patriarchy. Land tends to be owned and controlled by the male head of household, regardless of who lives on or contributes to working the land.
In Nigeria, the situation is not much different as women still face discrimination with relation to land ownership due to unequal land rights which act as an important mechanism through which female poverty and subordination are sustained and reproduced year in year out.
In South Africa, the situation is much different because the Matrimonial Property Act of 1984 prescribes a default marital property regime of community of property for all civil marriages, in the absence of an antenuptial contract stating otherwise. Under a community of property regime, all of a couple’s assets and liabilities are pooled and shared equally by the spouses, irrespective of whether they were acquired before or during the marriage, unless expressly excluded by a donor or testator
With respect to Sierra Leone, delays in the adoption of land policies, as well as the lack of measures to address rural women’s vulnerability to land acquisition by multinational mining companies, often resulting in forced evictions, displacement of women, and lack of adequate compensation is a great issue of concern. Moreover, there exist harmful practices such as early marriages in rural areas and persistent traditional customs that limit women’s access to land and inheritance.
The migration crisis and women land rights: What prospects for the future of Africa
According to a speech made by World Bank’s group president Jim Kim in October 2014, it was estimated that 450 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa wake up to poverty every day. Targets to succeed the anti poverty millennium Development Goals after 2015 therefore identified as a priority the need for women and girls to have equal access to financial services, as well as equal rights to own land and other assets. This could go a long way to reduce poverty and improve standards of living resulting to other multiplier effects that could curb massive migration that has become the greatest issue of concern in the world today after the 2008 financial crisis that hit the economies of most European countries. Approximately 15,000 migrants have already reached Italian shores in the first months of 2015; 1600 of whom have lost their lives in the high seas according to the United Nations high commission for refugees.
These people leave their countries of origin for diverse reasons; some are refugees who leave because they have suffered human rights abuses or because of who they are or what they believe in and their government cannot or will not protect them therefore they are forced to seek international protection. We also have displaced persons who move either within their own country, or from one country to another, usually to find work; although there may be other reasons such as family reunion. Some move voluntarily, while others are forced to leave because of economic hardship or other problems. On the other hand, we have asylum seekers who are people who leave their country in search of international protection, but are yet to be recognized as refugees.
Whatever the reasons for their displacements, consistent instabilities either linked to economic hardship, poverty, social injustices, human rights abuses, poor working conditions, bad governance, undemocratic changes and regimes or because of the belief that there is hope on the other side are the greatest motivators.
Today, “The future of humanity is increasingly African,” says UNICEF’s report about Africa; the second-largest and second most populous continent on earth with an estimated population of above 1.033 billion people. Home to 54 recognized sovereign states and countries, 9 territories and 2 de facto independent states with very little recognition, a greater solution to this migration crisis can only come from Africa which remains a relatively empty continent. It covers a quarter of the globe’s land mass but hosts only 15% of its population with 39 people per square kilometer compared to Asia, the most densely populated most populous continent which has 137 people per square kilometre . Surely, there should be room for more Africans.
If nothing is done, this continent in whose hands the future of humanity lies will become empty in the nearest future; with great natural potentials and no one to exploit. Yet a greater solution lies in food security and economic stability; with women playing a greater role; as improving their access to and control over land is seen by many as crucial to enhancing food and nutrition security thereby reducing poverty which could go a long way to curb migration related to this reasons. It would also strengthen their position within the household and promote other social and economic rights.
Gender equality needs to be part of each country’s strategy for eradicating poverty, both as an end and as a means to eradicating other forms of human poverty. Almost all of the countries cited above have experienced one form of insecurity or another over the years, steaming from civil wars to political unrest. The root cause of which lies in the inability to access basic necessities such as feeding, water and sanitation. It is evident that women play a greater role in ensuring food security through their contributions over the years. If therefore women are given a greater chance to own and operate the lands they use for cultivation, they could succeed to curb poverty by half within the next 10years. A people that have access to basic necessities, everything being equal will strive for peace and when there is peace, the fruits of development can be sustained. If this is complemented by equity and access to justice; a just society, then the notion of migrating for protection and economic improvement will be greatly reduced. Granting women a greater access to, ownership and control of land is therefore a major solution to the world’s greatest problems; an opportunity that must be exploited.
Natalie Nkembuh
