usually registered in the names of male elders. When an
elder died, no effort was made to transfer the title to his
widow; however, she could reasonably expect to be allowed
to continue cultivating the land. With the introduction of
land sales, women have had to worry about their secure
tenure to such land as conflicts now arise over ownership.
Stamp (1976), however, argues that laws allowing women
to own land have engendered more respect for women
from men. Formal registration of land appears to be a
mixed blessing for women generally, and certainly some
groups of women will benefit more than others.
Women tend to have better access to land when it is
abundant. As population pressures increase, women’s access
to land may become more difficult.7 In Burkina Faso, it is
reported that if there is enough land and water, women do
not seem to have a problem obtaining access to land. The
family head allocates personal plots to women and young
men, but the head retains some authority over the plots
and can reclaim them (Zuidberg 1994). Hirschmann and
Vaughan (1983) note that although women in Zomba,
Malawi, have traditionally had access to land, regardless of
their marital status, increasing land shortages are now
limiting their access. The women claim that they do not
now have rights to enough land to guarantee economic
independence. In Mali, as land becomes less available,
women are becoming workers on family fields, rather than
farmers in their own right (World Bank 1995).
More profitable land use opportunities may also reduce
women’s access to land. For example, in Zimbabwe, the
introduction of cash crops has resulted in a reduction in
the amount of land a woman is granted for planting her
crops (Muchena 1994). Similar effects have occurred
among the Nso in Cameroon (Goheen 1988) and the
Bushi in Zaire (Schoepf and Schoepf 1988). With
increased land productivity provided by new technologies
or new crops, men may place more emphasis on agriculture
and require that more of the land be under their control.
In particular, Potash (1981) expresses concern that as land
becomes scarcer and agricultural development programs
focus on increasing men’s involvement in agriculture,
women’s access to land will be threatened. Based on a
historical analysis of Malawi, Vaughn (1985) argues that
the point in time when women enter commodity
production is important. If they enter it at the same time
as men, they may have more bargaining power to retain
their land once land becomes scarce.
Thus, we can identify many factors that will affect
women’s access to land. To understand how access to land
will affect technology use and agricultural productivity in a
particular region, we would want to explore some of the
following questions: Are there formal markets for the sale
and rental of land? Are there limitations on women owning
or leasing land? Is land allocated through traditional
means? If so, what formal and informal rules are used to
allocate land? What rights accompany different forms of
access to land? Does the land available to men and women
differ in its inherent qualities and distance to the village?
How secure are the different forms of land tenure for men
and women? Is land scarce? What are the alternative uses
for the land?
The implications for technology development in
response to gender issues in access to land and tenure are
not clear. Many of these issues must be resolved at a higher
policy level. However, developing technologies that require
more secure land tenure, e.g., those requiring significant
investments in the soil on a particular plot, will
disadvantage those with insecure tenure—in many
instances, these will be women. An additional
consideration is that increasing the economic returns on
plots of land may result in farmers with insecure tenure
losing access to those plots.
Access to Other Inputs
In Africa, new technologies are needed to significantly
increase maize production. These technologies are usually
based on the use of agricultural inputs, especially fertilizer,
seed, and extension services or other sources of
information. Credit, in turn, is often needed to finance
some of these inputs. Numerous studies, referred to below,
indicate that women have less access than men to these
inputs. To understand these access issues, it is important to
consider whether constraints to access are based specifically
7 For evidence on Botswana, see Fortmann (1980).
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