Women’s Land Rights in the Transition to Individualized Ownership: Implications for Tree‐Resource Management in Western Ghana

Abstract

FCND Discussion Papers contain preliminary material and research results, and are circulated prior to a full peer review in order to stimulate discussion and critical comment. It is expected that most Discussion Papers will eventually be published in some other form, and that their content may also be revised.

Policy Discourses on Women's Land Rights in Sub–Saharan Africa: The Implications of the Re–turn to the Customary

“…38 Even so, the dangers that we have identified in the turn to the customary suggest that we cannot turn our backs on the state as a source of equity for women in relation to land issues, a point made more generally by Stewart (1996). Rural African women will not find it easier to make claims within a climate of 36 As well as Yngstrom (1999), see Sahelian examples discussed in Leonard and Toulmin (2000), and Vallenga (1985) and Quisumbing et al (1999), for Ghana. 37 Manuh recounts how elite women in Ghana seeking to reform family law to get uniformity in inheritance rights for women couched them in terms of 'custom', evoking flexible and fluid versions of customary law that required what was reasonable rather than a fixed set of rules (Manuh 1994).…”

Impacts of land redistribution on land management and productivity in the Ethiopian highlands

“…The conceptual framework and hypotheses about how land redistribution may influence landimproving investments, land management, input use and productivity draw from the literature on property rights and investment incentives (Barrows and Roth 1990;Migot-Adholla et al 1991;Feder and Feeny 1993;Place and Hazell 1993;Besley 1995;Gavian and Fafchamps 1996;Quisumbing et al 1999;Pender and Kerr 1999;Place and Swallow 2000). Although land redistributions cause tenure insecurity, they may have mixed impacts on farmers' land management and productivity, through short and long term effects of redistribution.…”

“…Therefore, land redistribution may increase input intensity, which may in turn increase productivity. Furthermore, the threat of redistribution may encourage farmers to invest if investments reduce the perceived likelihood of losing access to a given piece of land (Snyder 1996;Quisumbing et al 1999). Thus, land redistribution may either increase or decrease investments in land improvement, the intensity of land management, use of purchased inputs and productivity.…”

Can Integrated Agriculture-Nutrition Programmes Change Gender Norms on Land and Asset Ownership? Evidence from Burkina Faso

“…These changes in opinion regarding women’s land ownership suggest, qualitatively, that the programme has had some impact on perceptions of women’s land rights in these villages. This is potentially an important change in social norms, as evidence suggests that more secure land rights contributes to women controlling the income from their cultivated land and an increased willingness to invest in land (Fenske, 2011), such as increased tree planting (Goldstein & Udry, 2008; Quisumbing et al 2001Goldstein & Udry, 2008), and the adoption of soil conservation techniques (Deininger, Ali, & Yamano, 2008). …”