Challenges faced by women in Malawi with regard to land access, control, and ownership: a case study done in machinga district.
Dorothy Kamoto
, Dr.Shuba.,M.A.,M.Phil.,pH.D.,
ownership,access and control
Women’s access to and control over productive resources, including land, have increasingly been recognized in global discussions as a key factor in reducing poverty, ensuring food security and promoting gender equality. Indeed, this argument has been widely accepted by development theorists since the 1980s. (Agarwal, Bargaining and gender relations: Within and beyond the household. Feminist Economics, 1997.)
Based on qualitative research with 50 possessively selected men and women in the Machinga district in Malawi, this study explored the complexity of women’s access to and control over land within a specific relationship of contestations, negotiations, and manipulations with men.
Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. While theoretically, men try to claim that women’s secure access to, and control over land have beneficial consequences for women themselves, households and the community at large, in principle, women’s access and control status was premised in the traditions, which largely deprive women of equal access and/or control over the land.
The study indicated that even though land is the most revered resource and indeed, the dominant source of income for the rural poor, especially women, gender-erected discrimination and exclusion are key barriers (challenges) that prevent many rural women from accessing land.
This investigation argued that women’s weak access rights and control over land continues to perpetuate the feminization of gender inequality while men are reported to possess primary access and control over land as the heads of households, women are argued to have secondary rights due to their ‘stranger statuses’ in their husbands’ families.
Overall, the degree of access to land among women was reported to be situated within two broad contexts marriage and inheritance.
"Challenges faced by women in Malawi with regard to land access, control, and ownership: a case study done in machinga district.", IJNRD - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NOVEL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (www.IJNRD.org), ISSN:2456-4184, Vol.8, Issue 3, page no.c594-c626, March-2023, Available :https://ijnrd.org/papers/IJNRD2303269.pdf
Volume 8
Issue 3,
March-2023
Pages : c594-c626
Paper Reg. ID: IJNRD_188822
Published Paper Id: IJNRD2303269
Downloads: 000118900
Research Area: Social Science and Humanities
Country: Mangochi, Mangochi, Malawi
ISSN: 2456-4184 | IMPACT FACTOR: 8.76 Calculated By Google Scholar | ESTD YEAR: 2016
An International Scholarly Open Access Journal, Peer-Reviewed, Refereed Journal Impact Factor 8.76 Calculate by Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar | AI-Powered Research Tool, Multidisciplinary, Monthly, Multilanguage Journal Indexing in All Major Database & Metadata, Citation Generator
Publisher: IJNRD (IJ Publication) Janvi Wave
