Land Grabbing in Common Property Resources: How Women Social Positions Intersect Access to Natural Resources

Abstract

This article intends to showcase that land grabbing of gauchar (pastureland) at the village level affects women and men in differing ways, along the variables of gender and caste. The article uncovers the notion that the link among gender, caste and access to common property resources (CPRs) are deeply rooted in the power dynamics of the caste-based operating system at the informal level. Drawing on intersectionality perspective, the article explains through ethnographic data collected over a period of time, in a small rural community in Gujarat, India, that women’s social location/standing leads them to have multiple identities, which defines and alters their gender relations, norms, negotiations and access to resources, in context to land grab of CPRs. Consequently, the article argues that group-based social differences and power structures ultimately determine access to natural resources and institutional base for women from different strata of society wherein the governance structure may fall short of addressing these issues.