Land reform question in South Africa: Rethinking the feminization of land

Abstract

South Africa’s history has been marked with struggles over land. Post-apartheid South Africa continues to experience recurrent land inequality in different shades and contexts. Successive South African governments have had to embark on land reform to redress historical injustice, redistribute land to the ‘landless’ and ‘needy’, eradicate all barriers to women’s land rights and enforce productive use of land. Indeed, women have become more involved in the land and agricultural sectors, but gender discrimination still persists. While institutional barriers to skewed land arrangement were adjudged to have ended with the abolition of racial land policy and legislation of gender-free laws; however, women continue to face cultural restrictions against the attainment of their land rights in the country. Through unstructured interview, the article engages the feminization of women in land and agriculture, examines the root causes of gender discrimination and explores the reality of women’s land rights in the country. The article reinforces the relationship between gender construction of land’s access and households’ poverty and proffers practical policy options to address the denials of women’s land rights in the country.

Keywords: Land Reform, Feminization of Land, Women’s Land Rights, South Africa