Agrarian Change, Gender and Land Rights

Leading feminist scholars provide searching treatment of the long-neglected subject of gender and access to land in various regions around the world.

• A searching treatment of gender and access to land around the world.
• Includes contributions by leading feminist scholars in the field.
• Combines theoretical reflections with concrete case studies.
• Covers diverse regions, including sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Central Asia.
• Several articles are based on original and extensive field research carried out over the past two years in, for example, South Africa, Uzbekistan and Brazil.

1. Editorial Introduction: Terence J. Byres and Henry Bernstein (both at University of London).

2. Agrarian Change, Gender and Land Rights: Shahra Razavi (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva).

3. Global Capitalism, Deflation and Agrarian Crisis in Developing Countries: Utsa Patnaik (Jawaharlal Nehru University).

4. Policy Discourses on Women’s Land Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Implications of the Re-turn to the Customary: Anne Whitehead (University of Sussex) and Dzodzi Tsikata (University of Ghana).

5. Piety in the Sky? Gender Policy and Land Reform in South Africa: Cherryl Walker.

6. Securing Women’s Interests within Land Tenure Reforms: Recent Debates in Tanzania: Dzodzi Tsikata (lives in Durham).

7. Gender and Land Rights Revisited: Exploring New Prospects via the State, Family and Market: Bina Agarwal (University of Delhi).

8. The Cry for Land: Agrarian Reform, Gender and Land Rights in Uzbekistan: Deniz Kandiyoti (University of London).

9. Women’s Land Rights and Rural Social Movements in the Brazilian Agrarian Reform: Carmen Diana Deere (Universty of Massachusetts).

"Its strength is conceptual - not in telling the reader what to think about agrarian change, gender and land tenure reform, but in rethinking definitions, making new distinctions, giving us conceptual tools and showing us how to use them contextually." (Development and Change)

"The outstanding scholarship behind thier conclusions - skilfully woven together by Shahra Razavi in a powerful introduction best appreciated after reading the other contributions - makes this book required reading for anyone concerned with gender justice in land rights (and not only in an agrarian context)." (Gender, Place and Culture)

"This book provides a very useful consideration of the relationships between agrarian change, gender and land rights in a number of developing countries... The book is free of jargon and will be of value to final year undergraduates specialising in development and postgraduates looking for a useful summary of the issues and a guide to further reading."
—Alasdair Blair, University of Westminster

Shahra Razavi is Research Coordinator at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva. She is the editor of the books, Gendered Poverty and Well-Being (Blackwell Publishing, 2000); Shifting Burdens: Gender and Agrarian Change under Neoliberalism (2002); and co-editor (with Carol Miller) of Missionaries and Mandarins: Feminist Engagement with Development Institutions (1998), and (with Maxine Molyneux) of Gender Justice, Development, and Rights (2002). This collection of cutting-edge articles focuses on recent shifts in thinking about land rights, particularly as they relate to women. Leading feminist scholars in the field provide searching treatment of the long-neglected subject of gender and access to land.

The articles are introduced and contextualized by Shahra Razavi. She weaves together the findings and arguments of contributions which look at the implications of the current neoliberal policy agenda for a number of specific regions. Topics covered range from policy discussions about women’s land rights in sub-Saharan Africa to land tenure reforms and women’s interests in Tanzania; and from new prospects with respect to gender and land rights in India, to agrarian reform to rural social movements and women’s land rights in Brazil.

This is a timely collection, in which careful empirical analysis is presented with analytical power and clarity. The papers are provocative, refreshingly original and richly informative.