Gender, Land Rights and Social Institutions in Malawi, Zambia, and Kenya

• In Event: Contrasting Expected and Actual Political Behavior in Africa and the Middle East

Abstract

The institutions that govern land rights in African countries determine citizens’ economic and political rights. They establish who benefits from their fruits of their labor on agricultural land, who has incentives to invest in entrepreneurial projects, and who has the right to residency and inclusion in a community. Scholars have long described cases in which women—and men—face weakened property rights as a result of local land institutions. For example, women may be excluded from owning land in institutions with patrilineal inheritance rules, and men may be excluded likewise in institutions with matrilineal inheritance. Yet, both across and within communities, there is wide variation in the actual practices of gendered land rights.

This paper examines when and why individuals make property rights decisions that diverge from their local social institutions in Malawi, Zambia, and Kenya. Governments in all three countries, prompted by domestic and international civil society, have implemented laws that promise equal land rights to men and women. They have, thus, attempted to change gendered land institutions within their countries. In some cases, actual practice matches the de jure law, while in other cases, historically rooted institutional rules that are at odds with the law prevail. We examine the gap between the institutional rules and actual practices for two types of property rights: the powers to inherit and to manage land. We consider two mechanisms that influence individual land rights decisions. The first is norms diffusion – variation in exposure to new ideas regarding what is “acceptable.” The second is the balance of power – variation in migration and the value of land alter the balance of power within communities. This research addresses broader questions of how social institutions structure individual behavior, as well as the role that law and practice play in securing property rights for women in Africa.

Authors

• Adam Harris, University College London

• Lauren Honig, Boston College

• Ellen M. Lust, University of Gothenburg