A Field of One's Own

A Field of One's Own
Author: Bina Agarwal
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 600
Release: 1994
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780521429269

An analysis of gender and property throughout South Asia which argues that the most important economic factor affecting women is the gender gap in command over property.

Gender and Law

Gender and Law
Author: Lorenzo Cotula
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2006
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9789251055632

Women constitute a large portion of the economically active population engaged in agriculture. International instruments on human rights, the environment and sustainable development reaffirm the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of sex or gender. Yet women often face gendered obstacles in realizing their rights and feeding their families. The right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, may thus not be fulfilled. These obstacles may stem from directly or indirectly discriminatory norms or from entrenched socio-cultural practices, or both. This study analyses the gender dimension of agriculture-related legislation in a selection of different countries around the world, examining the legal status of women in three key areas: rights to land and other natural resources; rights of women agricultural workers; and rights concerning women's agricultural self-employment activities, ranging from women's status in rural cooperatives to their access to credit, training and extension services.

Women, Land and Power in Asia

Women, Land and Power in Asia
Author: Govind Kelkar
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2020-11-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000084329

Across the world women constitute an integral part of the agricultural sector. This volume is based on feminist responses to farming women’s struggle for economic rights and social justice in Asia, and seeks to provide a greater understanding of the development consequences of women’s marginal, limited ownership rights to land and other productive assets. Using comprehensive analyses, quantitative and qualitative data, and case studies from India, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region, this volume brings together scholars and activists engaged with women’s unmediated entitlement to land and productive assets. While generally taking a position in favour of asset redistribution, the volume addresses two major issues: first, the conflict between legal measures and socio-cultural norms, in a context where laws that seek to secure gender equality and women’s economic empowerment are often overruled by norms that favour men; and second, how changes in the global economy in relation to traditional farming practices have adversely impacted women’s rights, especially in regions where they previously enjoyed more customary rights in asset control and management. The book draws attention to issues of economic security, gender equitable access to resources and asset-building, human rights and law, land-based livelihoods, caste and ethnic diversity, and voices in the women’s movements. This book will be useful to policy makers, civil society organisations, researchers and students of gender and women’s studies, development studies, sociology, economics and agriculture.

"Good Women Do Not Inherit Land"

Author: Nitya Rao
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9788187358244

'Good women should not claim a share in the inheritance, even if they have no brothers..' Notions such as this have, in their own way and over time, given the women in the Santal Parganas the resolve to wrest what is rightfully theirs. This is a powerful book in the way in which it unfolds the lives and anxieties of Santal women in two villages of Dumka district, Jharkhand. From the very inception, adivasi women come alive through separate life histories. They span different situations and social patterns but all of them relate to rights in landed property, and their own troubled identities in the backdrop of harsh living conditions, social discrimination and lack of state support. Land for the Santal women is not a mere economic resource. It stands for security, social position and identity, and in this men have a distinct advantage. Soon after, writing in a personal vein, the author unfolds how these anxieties of the Santal women resonate her own. The author traces the relationship between Santals and their land from historic times to the modern era when they have access to both the modern legal system and their own customary laws. She also examines the role of external agencies in this struggle - government administrative bodies, non-governmental organizations and political leaders. As modern influences crowd out traditional mores the author asserts that development is not always a benign process of social advancement but a highly political struggle for re-negotiating power relations between men and women, and among social groups. The use of a 'community' identity as adivasis has also been responsible for denying women rights to land in the context of the movement for political autonomy of Jharkhand. Based on rich ethnographic material, this sensitive book lays bare the reality of being an adivasi and an adivasi woman, in all its nuances, in the modern globalized world.

Efficiency and Equity Impacts of Rural Land Rental Restrictions: Evidence from India

Efficiency and Equity Impacts of Rural Land Rental Restrictions: Evidence from India
Author: Klaus Deininger
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 33
Release: 2007
Genre: Access to information
ISBN:

Recognition of the potentially deleterious implications of inequality in opportunity originating in a skewed asset distribution has spawned considerable interest in land reforms. However, little attention has been devoted to the fact that, in the longer-term, the measures used to implement land reforms, especially rental restrictions, could negatively affect productivity. Use of state level data on rental restrictions, together with a nationally representative survey from India suggests that, contrary to original intentions, rental restrictions negatively affect productivity and equity by reducing scope for efficiency-enhancing rental transactions that benefit poor producers. Simulations suggest that, by doubling the number of producers with access to land through rental, from about 15 million currently, liberalization of rental markets could have far-reaching impacts.

Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook

Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 792
Release: 2008-10-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0821375881

The 'Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook' provides an up-to-date understanding of gender issues and a rich compilation of compelling evidence of good practices and lessons learned to guide practitioners in integrating gender dimensions into agricultural projects and programs. It is serves as a tool for: guidance; showcasing key principles in integrating gender into projects; stimulating the imagination of practitioners to apply lessons learned, experiences, and innovations to the design of future support and investment in the agriculture sector. The Sourcebook draws on a wide range of experience from World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and other donor agencies, governments, institutions, and groups active in agricultural development. The Sourcebook looks at: access to and control of assets; access to markets, information and organization; and capacity to manage risk and vulnerability through a gender lens. There are 16 modules covering themes of cross-cutting importance for agriculture with strong gender dimensions (Policy, Public Administration and Governance; Agricultural Innovation and Education; Food Security; Markets; Rural Finance; Rural Infrastructure; Water; Land; Labor; Natural Resource Management; and Disaster and Post-Conflict Management) and specific subsectors in agriculture (Crops, Livestock, Forestry, and Fisheries). A separate module on Monitoring and Evaluation is included, responding to the need to track implementation and development impact. Each module contains three different sub-units: (1) A Module Overview gives a broad introduction to the topic and provides a summary of major development issues in the sector and rationale of looking at gender dimension; (2) Thematic Notes provide a brief and technically sound guide in gender integration in selected themes with lessons learned, guidelines, checklists, organizing principles, key questions, and key performance indicators; and (3) Innovative Activity Profiles describe the design and innovative features of recent and exciting projects and activities that have been implemented or are ongoing.

Gender Challenges

Gender Challenges
Author: Bina Agarwal
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 1248
Release: 2015-12-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199093628

An internationally acclaimed economist, Bina Agarwal is known for her path-breaking writings on agriculture, property rights, and the environment. Her three-volume compendium brings together a selection of her essays, written over three decades. Combining diverse disciplines, methodologies, and cross-country comparisons, the essays challenge standard economic analyses and assumptions from a gender perspective. They provide original insights on a wide range of theoretical, empirical, and policy issues of continuing importance in contemporary debates. The first volume spans varied dimensions of the author’s writings on agrarian change, from 1981 to the present. It identifies gender inequalities in the impact of agricultural modernisation and technical change across Asia and Africa; the links between women, poverty, and economic growth processes; and data biases in measuring women’s work. It traces the gendered costs of droughts and famine, and challenges top-down methods of innovation diffusion. Focusing on the key role of women farmers in food security, it also offers innovative solutions, including public land banks and group farming. The second volume focuses on the author’s paradigm-shifting work on women’s property status in South Asia. Challenging conventional approaches to women’s empowerment, it demonstrates how promoting access to property, especially land, is key to enhancing women’s economic and social well-being and deterring domestic violence. It details gender inequalities in inheritance laws, public policies, and land struggles, and presents the bargaining framework for understanding and finding ways of overcoming these inequalities, both within families and in markets, communities, and vis-à-vis the state. This third volume traces the relationship between gender and environmental change. Critiquing ecofeminist assumptions, it presents an alternative theoretical framework. It also examines the causes of women’s absence as well as the impact of their presence in environmental collective action. Based on innovative fieldwork on community institutions for forest governance, the author demonstrates how a critical mass of women can significantly improve conservation outcomes. In conclusion, she reflects on which features of feminist scholarship make for an effective challenge to mainstream economics.

Gender and Rights

Gender and Rights
Author: Carol Sanger
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 671
Release: 2017-11-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351157701

Gender and Rights presents twenty five essays by leading international scholars and advocates the relationship between rights and gender inequality. The essays are organized into six categories: rights, sources of harm and well-being, work, family, violence and political process and participation. Particular attention is paid throughout to the relationship between cultural practices and legal rights. The volume also highlights the conceptual and the political development of rights claims and rights regimes for women and sexual minorities. The essays therefore focus not only on the theoretical justifications for rights but also on the contextual complexities of their enactment, implementation, enforcement and consequences.