Women and agrcultural land - Forum

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Facts

In Brasil, 1 percent of the population owns 49 percent of land.
Source (Financial Times, 0 April 2010)

In Britain, 0.3 percent of the population owns 69 percent of land.
Source (Financial Times, 0 April 2010)

Globally, more people now live in cities and towns than in rural areas

Africa is now the Worldâ€™s fastest urbanizing region and by 2050, 55% of Africans will be living in urban areas (from 38% in 2000)

Over 90% of new urban development in Africa is taking the form of slums

About 70% of urban population in Africa presently live in slums, and yet occupy less than 10% of urban and peri-urban lands

Research shows that in Africa about 60% of GDP is created in cities and towns

Formal land registration and administration have been unable to cope with rapid urban growth and as a result, between 50-70 percent of urban land in Africa is delivered through informal practices

In Zimbabwe, on 19 May 2005, with little or no warning, the Government embarked on an Operation to 'clean-up' its cities. It was a 'crash' operation known as Operation Murambatsvina and affected over 700,000 people.

In Ghana, some 800 people also had their homes destroyed in Legion Village, Accra, in May 2006, while approximately 30,000 people in the Agbogbloshie community of Accra have been threatened with forced eviction since 2002.

In Kenya, at least 20,000 people have been forcibly evicted from neighbourhoods in or around Nairobi since 2000.

In Equatorial Guinea, at least 650 families have been forcibly evicted from their homes since 2004, when the government embarked on a programme of urban regeneration in Malabo and Bata.

In Luanda, the capital of Angola, at least 6,000 families have been forcibly evicted and have had their homes demolished since 2001.

In Sudan, more than 12,000 people were forcibly evicted from Darusalaam camp in August 2006.

58 per cent of all households in South Africa are living without security of tenure.

In Nigeria, some 2 million people have been forcibly evicted from their homes and many thousands have been made homeless since 2000.

More than 3 million Africans have been forcibly evicted from their homes since 2000.

In Trinidad and Tobago, the 1998 Regularization of Tenure Act established a Certificate of Comfort that can be used to confer security of tenure to squatters as the first step in a process designed to give them full legal title.

Some 25,000 evictions are carried out annually in New York City alone.

In Atlanta, some 30,000 people were forcibly evicted prior to the 1996 Olympic Games, while the oldest public housing project, Techwood Homes, was deliberately de-tenanted because it stood in the way of a 'sanitized corridor' running through to CNN headquarters and the city centre.

Between 40 and 70 per cent of the population of Brazilâ€™s main cities are living in irregular settlements.

Some 720,000 people were forcibly evicted in Seoul and Inchon, Republic of South Korea, prior to the 1988 Olympic Games.

The number of people forcibly evicted to give way to dams in India alone since 1950 has been estimated at 50 million.

The economic boom in China has significantly reduced security of tenure. Rapid urban growth is a major cause of forced evictions. 1.7 million people have reportedly been evicted in Beijing (China) in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games.

Everyone who returned to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime was a squatter.

In Sri Lanka, large numbers of those displaced by the tsunami in late 2004 are still prevented from returning to their original homes and lands.

The Government of Myanmar forcibly evicted more than 1 million residents of Yangon, Rangoon.

An restitution programme in Kosovo has provided legal clarity regarding tenure and property rights to 29,000 disputed residential properties in the province since 2000.

Neezla Kureembokus

Women and agrcultural land - 2008/10/01 07:37 GMT Hello everyone!

I would like to share some basic information gathered during my fieldwork (in Mauritius) in relation to agricultural land. It has been observed that many women, mostly from rural areas, receive portions of agricultural land which more commonly involve sugarcane field, as their inheritance shares. Usually parents who own agricultural land are also owners of residential properties (family home) that are transferred to sons most of times, while daughters are usually allocated shares in agricultural land, along with their brothers in most circumstances (because agriculture is a man’s thing and men can’t be left out!) and this often results in small individual plots. It is noted that parent often transfers the land by a single title deed in the form of undivided property with the names of all co-owners on it. Such mode of transfer restricts the freedom of the co-owners to act independently. They (brothers and sisters), either, have to reach an agreement to manage the land collectively or to divide it and each of them receiving a specific share. Insofar as women are concerned, they tend to experience difficulties on two levels.

Firstly, as pointed out by several of the women concerned, information access as how to deal with regulation formalities-registration, cultivation, production, etc, is a major obstacle. Since most of them being ‘in-door’ housewives, they are unaware of where to seek appropriate assistance, apart from their own parents or other close relatives who may not always be present. Also, in most cases parents transfer their agricultural land at an old age, often long after they themselves have abandoned the land and thus making it harder to develop. Women’s lack of familiarity or interest in dealing with land is often the result of a particular mindset that land matters, in general and even more about agricultural land, belong to the male domain and thus, for e.g, talking and knowledge about tractors, mechanical equipments, harvest, production units, land measurement units, etc, are not woman affairs. In addition, certain land regulations pertaining to sugarcane field or other plantation in some cases are often not very supportive towards small scale land owners who may not benefit from the wide range of incentives that are provided to large owners. The facilities available depend on a range of factors including the geographical location of the land- type, quality and fertility, climatic conditions, infrastructure already available in the area, types of crops-if not sugarcane (completely). Women who manage to obtain individual but small shares are disadvantaged. Despite their willingness to utilise the land, women’s interests are often frustrated.

Secondly, as a corollary to the above issue, some women may find themselves in strained relationship with their siblings (co-owners). It seems that tension can arise whether the property is undivided or not. In case it is, women as sisters are often pressurized by their brothers to sell their shares by which, of course, is meant not a sale but more of a ‘donation’ since sisters are too embarrassed to set the price as per market value and hence receive much less than what the land is in fact worth, or women are completely passive in the transaction and the ‘buyer’ makes his offer by exchanging the land for some ‘favour’ in small monetary form or gifts. Given the complex situations experienced by many women in dealing with agricultural land, it is often regarded ‘more of a burden than a benefit’, as some women put it. Such negative attitude towards land which is generally a highly precious asset does raise serious concerns about the women’s opinions about the use and benefit of such resource and also about their own capabilities in managing it.

From the above example, the points that could be relevant to the criteria and tools indicator are mainly:
-tools should not only address the different types of land- agricultural, residential or commercial on a general basis,but essentially providing for the divergent gender requirements in utilisation so as to encourage land use by women on their own as well as alongside men and not to abandon or dispose the land for no good reasons.So for e.g, in relation to agricultural land, legal provisions for registration of titles to women may be meaningless if they cannot practically make use of the documents. Title deeds bearing the name of ‘Ms or Mrs x..’ but that are only carefully stored in drawers or in bank lockers are not worth its value if it cannot secure a development loan (with lesser interest) or other financial benefits because the land is too small or plain! Women also require additional physical assistance in several ways.
-incentives for women small planters; different agricultural zones having women -lead organisations to provide training and skills-learning sessions and also to encourage women-owners to participate actively in land management and development and make land matters a ‘woman matter’ too.
-production (sugar, vegetables or other cultivation) generated by women planters and the output channels can be systematically recorded and hence keeping consistent checks on land owned and managed by women.
-crucial information on women’s progress can also be made available through specialised financial institutions assisting land development.

Neezla

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