Land Tenure Regimes and Women’s Land Rights in Uganda; Legality and the Land Legal Framework.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.81.9462Keywords:
Land Tenure Regimes; Women’s Land Rights; Legality; Land Legal Frame workAbstract
A review on the implications of land tenure regimes on women’s land rights is relevant in the Ugandan context and other countries in Africa due to the fact that land is in many ways the most important productive resource to possess or have access to. Rights over land are associated with social identity and help to regulate what people do with that land as a source of livelihood. Despite the critical contribution of land resource, it is not equitably distributed. The position of women in land accessibility, control and ownership is still precarious under the different tenure regimes in Uganda. A literature review was conducted to assess the implications of the tenure regimes on women land rights in Uganda, with specific reference to the land legality and the legal framework. From the literature reviewed, the study indicates that women’s right to land under the land holding systems are largely limited to access rights but not ownership rights. Ugandan women face significant challenges accessing justice when their rights are violated. The lack of clear distinction between legitimacy and legality of land rights makes it difficult to attain effective women’s rights to land. A combination of contemporary and customary law still restricts land rights of women in that the statutory instruments in place have failed to grant women the right to land. The study recommends that the necessary change required to narrow the gender gap in land rights necessitates simultaneous struggles over the norms and legal structures governing women’s land rights.
References
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[3]. Burns, T., Grant, C., Nettle, C., Brits, A. & Dalrymple, K. (2007). Land administration reform: indicators of success and future challenges. Agriculture and Rural Development Discussion Paper 37. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ the World Bank. Washington, USA. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTARD/Resources/ARDDiscussionPaper37.pdf
[4]. Asiimwe, J. (2014). Making women’s land rights a reality in Uganda: advocacy for co-ownership by spouses. Yale Human. Rights & Development. LJ4: 171.
[5]. Ikdahl, I., Hellum, I.A., Kaarhus, R., Benjaminsen, A. & Kameri –Mbote, P. (2005). Human rights, formalization and women’s land rights in southern and Eastern Africa. Studies in Women’s Law No. 57. Institute of Women’s Law, Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo, Norway. http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what we do/issues/livelihoods/landrights/downloads/women\ land rights in southern and eastern africa.pdf
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[7]. Kajoba, G.M (2008). Land use and land tenure in Africa. Towards an evolutionary conceptual framework. Retrieved June 6, 2013, from http://www.codesria.org/IMG/pdf/kajoba.pdf.
[8]. Neema, M. (2015). Women's empowerment and decision-making at the household level: A case study of Ankore families in Uganda. Tilburg: Tilburg University
[9]. Tumusiime, J., & Bichachi, O. C. (Eds.). (2011). Peoples and cultures of Uganda (4th edition). Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
[10]. Nsibambi. (1996). Land tenure relations in Uganda, 1900-1995.The Uganda Journal 43: 12-33
[11]. RoU (Republic of Uganda). (2013).The National Land Policy. Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Kampala, Uganda.
[12]. Pedersen et al., (2012). Land tenure and economic activities in Uganda: a review of the literature. In DIIS Working Paper 2012:13. Danish Institute for International Studies: Copenhagen, Denmark.
[13]. Bikaako, W. & Ssenkumba, J. (2003). Gender, land and rights: contemporary contestations in law, policy and practice in Uganda. In. L. M. Wanyeki (ed.), Women and Land in Africa pp. 232-77. New York, NY: Zed Books.
[14]. FAO. (2010). Gender and land rights: understanding complexities, adjusting policies,’ economic and social perspectives. Policy Brief 8, 2010.
[15]. Adoko. J. et al., (2011) Understanding and Strengthening Women’s Land Rights under Customary Tenure in Uganda.
[16]. Bomuhangi, A., Doss, C. & Meinzen-Dick, R. (2012). Who owns the land? Perspectives from rural Ugandans and implications for land acquisitions. IFPRI Discussion paper 01136, Washington D.C. IFPRI.
[17]. Nkonya, P., J. Pender, P. Jagger, D. Sserunkuuma, C.K. Kaizzi, H. Ssali. (2004). Strategies for sustainable land management and poverty reduction in Uganda. Research Report No. 133. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute.
[18]. Okuku, J.A. (2006). The Land Act (1998) and land tenure reform in Uganda. Africa Development 31(1): 1-26.
[19]. Nhamo, G. & Chekoti, C. (Eds) (2014). Land grabs in a green African economy. ISBN 978-0-7983-0477-1 South Africa.
[20]. Rugadya, M. A & H. Busingye., (2002). Gender perspectives in the land reform process in Uganda Land Alliance.
[21]. Mamdan, M. (2004). Formalizing land Rights in developing Countries; Moving from past controversies to future strategies”. Paris (AFD) Pp. 82
[22]. Bicchieri, C. (2017). Norms in the wild: How to diagnose, measure, and change social norms. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190622053.
[23]. Hannay, L. (2014). Women’s land rights in Uganda. Center for women’s land rights. LANDESA
[24]. Adoko, J. & S. Levine., (2008). Falling between two stools: how Women’s Land rights are lost between state and Customary Law, in Englert. B., & Daley. E., (Eds), Women’s Land Rights and Privatization in Eastern Africa. Nairobi (Kenya): East African Educational Publishers.
[25]. Adoko, J. et al., (2011) Understanding and Strengthening Women’s Land Rights under Customary Tenure in Uganda.
[26]. Wallman & Lester (1994). Cupid, couples and contracts: A guide to living together; prenuptial agreement and divorce. New York: Master media
[27]. Moffitt, R. (2000) Female Wages, Male Wages, and the Economic Model of Marriage: The Basic Evidence. In: Waite LJ, Bachrach C, Hindin M, Thomson E, Thornton A, editors. The ties that bind: perspectives on marriage and cohabitation. New York: Aldine de Gruyter; 2000. pp. 320–342.
[28]. Cherlin A. J. (1992). Marriage, divorce, remarriage. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
[29]. Alupo J, (2004). Bride price and gender violence, paper presented to the participants at the international conference on bride price and development, Makerere University Kampala Uganda
[30]. Anderson, S. (2007) The economics of dowry and bride-price; Journal of Economic Perspectives 21(4) Fall 2007, PP 151–174
[31]. Matembe, M. (2004) The relationship between domestic violence and bride price, paper presented at the International Bride Price Conference, MP Mbarara and Pan African Parliamentarian, February, Kampala, Uganda.
[32]. Tukahirwa, J. M. B. (2002). Policies, people and land use changes in Uganda: A case study of Ntungamo, Lake Mburo & Sango Bay sites. Retrieved June 14, 2013, from http://www.lucideastafrica.org/publications/tukahirwa_Lucid_WP17.pdf
[33]. Wabineno-Oryema, L.M (2015). Changing face of land tenure in Uganda: Period before 1900 to date Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda e-mail address: lilian2mono@yahoo.com JLAEA Vol. 2 Issue 1, Jan. 2014 @Ardhi University Journal of Land Administration in Eastern Africa
[34]. Batungi, N., & Rüther, H. (2008). Land tenure reform in Uganda some reflections on the formalization of customary tenure. Survey Review Journal, 40(308), pp. 116-128.
[35]. Lastarria-Cornhiel,S. (2003). Uganda country brief: Property rights and land markets. University of Wisconsin-Madison: Land Tenure Center, March 2003.
[36]. Gopal, G. (1999). Gender- related legal reform and access to economic resources in Eastern Africa”. Washington D.C: World Bank.
[37]. WLLA (Women’s Land Link Africa) (2010). The impact of national land policy and land reform on women in Uganda”http://www.cohre.org/sites/default/files/uganda_-_the_impact_of_national_land_policy_and_land_reform_on_women_october_2010.pdf (Accessed 13 February2013)
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[41]. Bosworth, J. (1995). Land Tenure Systems in Sub Saharan Africa. Oxford: Oxford University.
[43]. Matembe, M. (2002). Gender, politics and constitution making in Uganda.Kampala: Fountain Publishers.
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[45]. Byamugisha, F. K, (Ed). (2014). Agricultural land redistribution and land administration in Sub-Saharan Africa: Case studies of recent reforms. Directions in Development. World Bank: Washington DC.
[46]. FAO, (2005). Access to rural land and land administration after violent conflicts. FAO Land Tenure Studies. ISBN 978-92-5-105343-0
[47]. Wily, L. A. (2003). Governance and land relations: A Review of decentralization of land administration and management in Africa. International Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK.
[48]. Enemark, S. (2004): Building land information policies. Proceedings of special forum on building land information America. Aguascalientes, Mexico, 26-27 October 2004. Available onhttp://www.fig.net/pub/mexico/papers_eng/ts2_enemark_eng.pdf
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[50]. IDRC. (2010). Gendered terrain; women's rights and access to land in Africa. International Development Research Centre. Nairobi: IDRC.
[51]. Tripp, A. (2004). Women's movements, customary law, and land rights in Africa: The case of Uganda.African Studies Quarterly, no.4.
[52]. Deininger, K., Goyal, A. & Nagarajan, H. (2010). Inheritance law reform and women's access to capital: Evidence from India's Hindu Succession Act. Policy Research Working Paper no. 5338. The World Bank Development Research Group, Agriculture and Rural Development Team.
[53]. Barata, K. (2001). Rehabilitating records in the land registry. Final report. Report written for chemonics International Inc. USAID/Speed project Short Term consultancy, Kampala, Uganda.
[54]. Geo-Information Communication (GIC) ltd, (2007). Securing and upgrading the land registry and implementation of a land information system in Uganda. Private Sector Competitiveness Project (PSCPII). The Baseline Evaluation Report
[55]. Essays, UK. (November 2013). Land Information Management in Uganda Management Essay. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/management/land-information-management-in-uganda-management-essay.php?cref=1.
[56]. Whitehead, A. & Tsikata, D. (2003). Policy discourses on women’s land rights in Sub-Saharan Africa: The implications of the re-turn to the customary. Journal of Agrarian Change,3(1, 2):67-112.
[57]. Agarwal, B. (1994). A Field of One's Own: Gender and land rights in south asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[58]. Ahikire, J. (2011). Cuttting the coat according to the cloth’. Decentralisation and women's agency on land rights in Uganda (p. 97): Center for Basic Research, Kampala.
[59]. Nampewo, Z. (2016). The linkage between secure land rights for women and improved food security.Book chapter in Land, food security and agriculture in Uganda. Friedick-Ebert-Stiftung PublishersKampala office, Uganda
[60]. Khadiagala, L. (2002), Negotiating law and custom: Judicial doctrine and women’s property rights inUganda. 46 Journal of African Law 1–13.
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2021-01-17
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Kemigisha, P. (2021). Land Tenure Regimes and Women’s Land Rights in Uganda; Legality and the Land Legal Framework. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(1), 116–133. https://doi.org/10.14738/assrj.81.9462
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