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"The family farms together, the decisions, however are made by the man" -Matrilineal land tenure systems, welfare and decision making in rural Malawi

Djurfeldt, Agnes Andersson LU ; Hillbom, Ellen LU ; Mulwafu, Wapulumuka O. ; Mvula, Peter and Djurfeldt, Göran LU orcid (2018) In Land Use Policy 70. p.601-610
Abstract

Improved female control over land is often put forth as a means of raising the productivity of smallholder agriculture, enhancing female bargaining power and raising women's incomes. The article uses some quantitative but primarily qualitative data on access to income and decision making, to analyse gender patterns related to welfare, incomes and control over resources in a context where women's rights to land are particularly strong, that is in a matrilineal and uxorilocal setting. Women's land rights are contextualized in relation to labour intensive, low productive smallholder systems and the paper assesses to what extent female control over land affects welfare outcomes, decision making and intra-household control over incomes and... (More)

Improved female control over land is often put forth as a means of raising the productivity of smallholder agriculture, enhancing female bargaining power and raising women's incomes. The article uses some quantitative but primarily qualitative data on access to income and decision making, to analyse gender patterns related to welfare, incomes and control over resources in a context where women's rights to land are particularly strong, that is in a matrilineal and uxorilocal setting. Women's land rights are contextualized in relation to labour intensive, low productive smallholder systems and the paper assesses to what extent female control over land affects welfare outcomes, decision making and intra-household control over incomes and labour. While we find that female control over land does affect intra household relations it is clear that land reform is not enough to ensure gender equality. For any land use policy reform to have a profound affect it would have to also take into account control over other productive resources, e.g. labour, as well as the wider institutional and political context.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agriculture, Gender, Land tenure, Malawi, Smallholders
in
Land Use Policy
volume
70
pages
601 - 610
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85033804402
ISSN
0264-8377
DOI
10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.10.048
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a4505717-cdf4-476c-97b1-1dd4aa2d5f00
date added to LUP
2017-11-29 11:07:04
date last changed
2022-03-02 01:59:53
@article{a4505717-cdf4-476c-97b1-1dd4aa2d5f00,
  abstract     = {{<p>Improved female control over land is often put forth as a means of raising the productivity of smallholder agriculture, enhancing female bargaining power and raising women's incomes. The article uses some quantitative but primarily qualitative data on access to income and decision making, to analyse gender patterns related to welfare, incomes and control over resources in a context where women's rights to land are particularly strong, that is in a matrilineal and uxorilocal setting. Women's land rights are contextualized in relation to labour intensive, low productive smallholder systems and the paper assesses to what extent female control over land affects welfare outcomes, decision making and intra-household control over incomes and labour. While we find that female control over land does affect intra household relations it is clear that land reform is not enough to ensure gender equality. For any land use policy reform to have a profound affect it would have to also take into account control over other productive resources, e.g. labour, as well as the wider institutional and political context.</p>}},
  author       = {{Djurfeldt, Agnes Andersson and Hillbom, Ellen and Mulwafu, Wapulumuka O. and Mvula, Peter and Djurfeldt, Göran}},
  issn         = {{0264-8377}},
  keywords     = {{Agriculture; Gender; Land tenure; Malawi; Smallholders}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{601--610}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Land Use Policy}},
  title        = {{"The family farms together, the decisions, however are made by the man" -Matrilineal land tenure systems, welfare and decision making in rural Malawi}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.10.048}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.10.048}},
  volume       = {{70}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}