In pursuit of progressive property rights
The growth of the global population and increased competition for land and resources has the greatest effect on the poor, young and female population. Jonathan Beale reviews the book ‘Women’s Land Rights and Privatization in Eastern Africa’, a series of essays about land issues in East Africa edited by Birgit Englert and Elizabeth Daley. This collection of essays was gathered from young scholars in several east African nations including Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya and touches on a variety of topics related to women and land. Beale praises the contributors' thorough research and arguments, but notes the book’s oversight of land ownership in urban centres such as Dar es Salaam and Nairobi.
As global population growth and the commoditisation of land begin to stretch the seams of the planet’s resources, we may well ask ourselves: Who takes the punches? It is the poor, the young and poor, and the female and poor. It is broadly accepted by many agricultural economists that women make up the majority of the agricultural work force world-wide, yet they are far less likely to own land than men. In 2009 the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) published its African Women’s Report, which aimed at measuring gender inequality in Africa. The report declared, that in which it declared ‘women are not accessing productive resources (land and credit) to the same extent as men’ in many African countries.[1] Owing to the high level of importance attributable to women’s land rights, ‘’, edited by Birgit Englert and Elizabeth Daley is published by James Currey (2008), ISBN: 9781847016119.
* Jonathan Beale is an intern with Pambazuka News.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.
NOTES:
[1] http://www.uneca.org/eca_resources/publications/books/awr/AWR09_FIN.pdf
[2] http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/7/2/85