Women's Land Rights: South America

Meredith Neville

WST250 Blog #2

Women’s Land Rights: South America

Globally, women’s ownership of land is highly disproportional to the amount of food that women are actually responsible for producing. According to the International Land Coalition, “women are primary agricultural producers, cultivating between 60 and 80 percent of the food in most developing countries”. These women are hard working agricultural laborers, who often do not have the actual ownership over the land that their food is grown on. This is due to many factors, including patriarchal traditions, laws, and norms in many societies that favor men’s ownership over women’s. There are individual women, local groups, and international organizations that are working to change this land ownership pattern, but it is a struggle with successes and setbacks.

There is a long list of reasons why it is important for women to own their land. In many countries, such as several South American countries, men from rural areas have moved to urban areas to find work. Often in these cases, women are responsible for working the land in the rural home, but they do not have legally recognized ownership of the land (Horan). They only achieve legal access to work this land through males, which leaves them subordinated socially and economically. Studies have found many benefits for women, families, and communities when women do in fact have access to owning their own land.  Research has shown that “when women own the land they till, families tend to be better fed, better educated and healthier” (Horan). Food security increases for families, daughters tend to marry at a later age, and levels of domestic violence are also decreased with female land ownership (Horan). Land ownership is a strong asset for females, especially in rural, impoverished areas, where subsistence farming is a common way to support families.

Another reason why women should have increased access to land ownership is because it violating their basic human rights when they are discriminated against economically and socially. Denying women access to land is a form of gender discrimination that puts them in a place of disadvantage. There are international agreements and contracts that pledge non-discrimination, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women CEDAW, which are great ideas in theory. However, it is very difficult to change social norms and traditions within each individual society that keep women oppressed (Horan).

Looking through a transnational feminist perspective, it is helpful to have a sense of solidarity with women in other countries, but not helpful to assume that a one-size-fits-all approach to social change is the best method. Women in each country/society need to decide what is the best way for them to achieve equality in the area of land ownership. In some cases, that may be changing the laws or constitution of the society’s government in order to change women’s land ownership status. In other countries, change may be more effective through women’s education, activism, and/or shifting social attitudes about women’s rights (Int’l Land Coalition). In South America, different approaches are being taken to secure women’s land ownership, some through governmental reforms, and others through local women’s organizations.

A very interesting example of one country that is experiencing change in the area of land reform is Bolivia. Bolivia democratically elected the first indigenous president of Latin America in 2006, Evo Morales (Boggan). One of Morales’s key platforms was land redistribution and agrarian reform in the country. Morales sought to redistribute areas of land that were seen as unproductive and/or owned by large-scale, elite agro-businesses, to small farmers and indigenous communities. He has been fairly successful in fulfilling this goal of redistributing land, with the government surveying and seizing land; over 134 million acres of land having been titled to citizens during his administration (Achtenburg). Of these titles, “almost one-quarter have been granted to women, and another 37% to men and women jointly. This marks an historic shift for Bolivia, where women have long been excluded from land ownership” (Achtenburg). These government actions have been important steps for securing land access and land rights for those who need them most.

Another way that action towards land reform is being taken in Bolivia is through women’s organizations. In the outskirts of cities such as Cochabamba, women are struggling to secure property rights to small pieces of land where their home is, due to land estate owners/traders who unjustly monopolize the land outside of cities (Habitat). The Habitat for Humanity organization established a “School of Women Leaders on Secure Tenure” in 2011, where over 275 Bolivian women have completed training. Local female leaders from this network were successful in proposing a significant legal reform to the Bolivian Plurinational Assembly, which was passed in 2012 (Habitat). This reform grants recognition of land ownership equally to men and women within a household. This is an example of transnational feminism, because Habitat for Humanity, and international organization, was helping women learn how to create change themselves. The organization was not lobbying the government themselves from a foreign perspective, but rather providing legal training for the local women to empower themselves and then take the actions most appropriate to advance their own communities’ situation.

Each country in South America has their own government and legal system that operates differently, and also a wide range of different cultures that influence social norms within countries and communities. These cultures shape social and legal acceptance of female leadership and land ownership. The percentage of women in Paraguay who are landowners, 27%, is significantly higher than the percentage of Brazilian women who are land owners, 11% (Seager). Both of these percentages are higher then the United States, which is only 9% (Seager). Patriarchy, cultural traditions/norms, and legalities all influence these percentages.

Another important influence on land ownership is the civil state of the country/society. In Columbia, civil war has been extremely detrimental to the progression and equality of land ownership. Due to Columbia’s internal armed conflict, over 4 million Columbians have been internally displaced, with more than 100,000 displaced from their lands/homes each year (Human Rights). This is extremely damaging to families, both male and female members, communities, and the country as a whole. Women are particularly vulnerable to being displaced from their homes/land, especially if their husbands/partners are away serving in the military or part of the guerilla troops. The government has tried to take some action to restore internally displaced persons, IDPs, to their land through the Victims and Land Restitution Law, which was implemented in 2011. This law “aims to return millions of acres of abandoned and stolen land to internally displaced persons who fled their homes over the past two decades” (Human Rights). However, the internal conflicts and threats are keeping people away from their lands, creating a “climate of fear” (Human Rights). Due to this violence and internal conflict, land ownership for women in many parts of Columbia looks very different than it does in a neighboring country, such as Venezuela, where there are currently significantly less IDPs. Warfare is another extremely influential factor on the status of land rights/ land ownership for all citizens, especially women.

The lack of access to land ownership and lack of land rights that women experience is a continued form of oppression and discrimination. There are a variety of cultural, political, and societal reasons to explain this disparity between male and female land ownership. It varies from country to country, even within a similar geographic region, such as South America. Just as the reasons for the inequality are different, the ways in which to achieve greater equality may vary from different countries and situations. Sometimes the best routes to change are through the political and legal systems. With women owning their own land, significant benefits to individuals, families, and communities have been shown.

Works Cited

Achtenburg, Emily. “Bolivia: The Unfinished Business of Land Reform”.

North American Congress on Latin America. April 1, 2013. www.nacla.org. 11/25/13. Web.

Boggan, Steve. “’Coca is a Way of Life’”. The Guardian. Feb 8, 2006.

www.theguardian.com. 11/26/13. Web.

Habitat for Humanity. “Improving Access to Land Rights for Women and Excluded

Families in Cochabamba, Bolivia”. 2013. www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk. 11/25/13. Web.

Horan, Deborah. “Why Women Should Own Their Own Land”. Devex. Sep 6, 2013.

 www.devex.com. 11/25/13. Web.

Human Rights Watch. “World Report 2013: Columbia”. 2013. www.hrw.org.

11/26/13. Web.

International Land Coalition. “Women’s Land Rights”. 2012. www.landcoalition.org.

11/25/13. Web.

Seager, Joni. “The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World”. Penguin Books, New York.

2009. Print.