Introduction: Agrarian Change, Gender and Land Rights

Abstract

Neo-liberal economic agendas are impacting on rural livelihoods and people's attachment to, and functions of, land in rural and non-rural household economies differently in diverse contexts; the present collection of papers explores the gender specificities of these impacts. With the deceleration of more formal forms of employment, the diversification of rural livelihoods, and the intensification of women's unpaid and casual labour in agriculture and the informal sector, the land question has taken on a new urgency and needs to be posed in a new light. Given women's centrality to diversified livelihoods, and their increasing political agency, their interests in land (both as wives/daughters within male-dominated households and as members of vulnerable social classes and communities that face the risk of land alienation and entitlement failure in the context of liberalization) are more politicized today as well as being more contested. The interface between gender and land is contextually specific and cannot be adequately addressed through all-purpose global policy prescriptions. BACKGROUNDThe past two decades have witnessed significant shifts in global development agendas and policies, marked by a resurgence of laissez-faire orthodoxies and a marked ambivalence, if not outright hostility, towards the 'heavy-handed' developmental state. The debt crises of the early 1980s and the subsequent multilateral lending programmes provided a decisive opening for the international financial institutions (IFIs) to impose a neo-liberal agenda of fiscal restraint, open trade and capital accounts, and privatization on indebted developing countries.

Plantations, outgrowers and commercial farming in Africa: agricultural commercialisation and implications for agrarian change

“…Another set of relevant debates concerns the social relations of agrarian change (Bernstein 2010;O'Laughlin 2001;Razavi 2003;Tsikata 2009Tsikata , 2015. This discussion falls into two broad views about social relations.…”

Spatial Difference of Multifunctional Agriculture in South Moravia Region

“…Mild dependence can be observed in rural attractiveness, however, when compared to the general assumptions of multifunctional agriculture it is developed in areas with below-average and low attractiveness of rural areas. Local and regional specific conditions and opportunities for diversification have big impact (Razavi, 2003, Wilson, 2009, which is quite evident in the case of the South Moravian Region. Viticulture and Winemaking is proving a crucial factor in the distribution of multifunctional agriculture in the South Moravian Region and the diversification of activity appears to be the strongest factor at the local level.…”

“…Důležitým faktorem diverzifikace je velikost farem, protože diverzifikují spíše menší farmy (Gasson, 1988). Často však k diverzifikaci zemědělci přistupují z důvodu přežití, ke které je nutí nedostatek pracovní síly, nedostatek institucionální a infrastrukturní podpory, co by umožnila lepší finanční zhodnocení zemědělských produktů (Razavi, 2003).…”

“…Jak například uvádí Razavi (2003), tak síly, které podporují diverzifikaci a její výsledky jsou výrazně rozdílné v závislosti na geografické poloze, majetku, příjmu, příležitostem a sociálním vztahům. Například dle Goodmana (2004) se jako důležitý faktor jeví zapojení regionu do globálního kapitalistického systému, kdy více zapojené regiony mají mnohem méně rozvinuté multifunkční zemědělství, než regiony vzdálenější globálním trhům.…”

Transformation in Realising Women's Land Rights and Access to Justice: Lessons from the Law in Action in Tanzania

“…Through scholarship, campaigns and strategic litigation they have emphasised the need to recognise and secure women's land rights using legislation. A number of scholars have critiqued the ways in which women's land rights have been enshrined in the new wave of African land laws (Razavi 2003;Wanyeki 2003;Manji 2006;Englert and Daley 2008;Tsikata and Golah 2010;Knight 2010;Wily 2012;McAuslan 2013). An enduring issue that has yet to be resolved fully, is the tension between the principle of gender equality and gender-discriminatory aspects of customary laws and practices, where they are recognised in African legal systems.…”