Women's land rights and community land formalisation in Mozambique

What is it about?

How to secure women's rights and access to land when community land rights are formalised? In this article we follow a process of 'land delimitation' in central Mozambique. The Mozambican Land Law aims to secure land rights based on customary use and occupation, and at the same time secure equal rights for men and women. What are the challenges met when legal principles are implemented through complex local negotiation processes?

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Why is it important?

The land question in sub-Sarahan Africa has over the last years aquired new dimensions. Increasing pressure on land, new investment initiatives, and efforts to formalise rural people's traditional land rights may result in complex and sometimes conflictive situations. Implementation processes depend on, but also create spaces for assertion of already-established power and authority. This raises the question of how local women can articulate their interests in secure access to land.