Differentiations in Women’s Land Tenure Experiences: Implications for Women’s Land Access and Tenure Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Uchendu Eugene Chigbu, Gaynor Paradza and Walter Dachaga
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Uchendu Eugene Chigbu: TUM Department of Civil, Geo and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany
Gaynor Paradza: Independent Consultant, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa
Walter Dachaga: TUM Department of Civil, Geo and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany

Land, 2019, vol. 8, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: Most literature on land tenure in sub-Saharan Africa has presented women as a homogenous group. This study uses evidence from Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe to show that women have differentiated problems, needs, and statuses in their quest for land access and tenure security. It illustrates how women-to-women differences influence women’s access to land. By investigating differentiations in women’s land tenure in the three countries, the study identifies multiple and somewhat interlinked ways in which differentiations exist in women’s land tenure. It achieved some key outcomes. The findings include a matrix of factors that differentiate women’s land access and tenure security, a visualisation of women’s differentiation in land tenure showing possible modes for actions, and an adaptable approach for operationalising women’s differentiation in land tenure policies (among others). Using these as evidence, it argues that women are a highly differentiated gender group, and the only thing homogenous in the three cases is that women are heterogeneous in their land tenure experiences. It concludes that an emphasis on how the differentiation among women allows for significant insight to emerge into how they experience tenure access differently is essential in improving the tenure security of women. Finally, it makes policy recommendations.

Keywords: differentiation; gender; land; land access; land rights; land tenure; tenure security; social tenure; sub-Saharan Africa; women; women’s differentiation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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