Gender discrimination in land ownership and the alleviation of women’s poverty in Nigeria
| Author | Taiwo Ajala |
| Published date | 01 March 2017 |
| Date | 01 March 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1358229117700028 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Gender discrimination in
land ownership and the
alleviation of women’s
poverty in Nigeria:
A call for new equities
Taiwo Ajala
Abstract
In Nigeria, gender roles are manifested in social rights and entitlements in a form which
denies women equal economic and political empowerment and, in particular, women
right to own land. The consequence of gender discrimination in land ownership is
women’s lack of access to land which constitutes a major source and means of wealth
creation and economic empowerment, hence women’s vulnerability to poverty. This
article considers a land redistribution reform which can address the discrimination
against women in land ownership and give women access to land for economic
empowerment, thereby alleviating poverty among women in Nigeria. The article pro-
poses that an ideal land reform in Nigeria has to fulfil three key objectives of equity,
equality and productivity which the article refers to as ‘new equities’. It argues that only a
redistributive land reform which integrates these ‘equities’ can adequately address
gender discrimination in land ownership, ensure women’s access to land for economic
empowerment and alleviate women’s poverty in Nigeria.
Keywords
Gender discrimination, women land ownership, redistributive land reform, wom en’s
poverty, women’s poverty alleviation
Faculty of Law, Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria
Corresponding author:
Taiwo Ajala, Faculty of Law, Lagos State University, Lagos PMB 0001, Nigeria.
Email: taijala2005@gmail.com
International Journalof
Discrimination and theLaw
2017, Vol. 17(1) 51–66
ªThe Author(s) 2017
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/1358229117700028
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Introduction
Gender is a socially constructed component that reflects a society’s views regarding what
it deems as the appropriate roles for men and women. The UN (2010) noted that gender is
a social construction that defines and differentiates roles, rights, responsibilit ies and
obligations of women and men. According to the global body, the innate biological
differences between men and women are used to support social norms defining th e
adequate behaviour of women and men and to determine the differentiated economic,
social and political power between men and women. This assertion clearly identifies how
gender roles have been constructed for men and women all over the world. In Nigeria,
the differentiated gender roles are manifested in social rights and entitlements in a form
which denies women the equal economic and political empowerment and, in particular,
denies women the right of ownership of land.
The reality of gender discrimination in land ownership is women’s lack of access to
land which constitutes a major source and means of wealth creation and economic
empowerment, hence women’s vulnerability to poverty (Aigbokhan, 1998: 31). Accord-
ing to Cagatay (2001: 14), women are more vulnerable to poverty due to lack of own-
ership and control of land, access to credit and income earned through work in the labour
market. Relevant literature has identified the relationship between gender discrimination
in land ownership and women’s poverty, and various approaches have been suggested
for poverty reduction through land reform (Archibong, 1997; Canagarajah et al., 1997;
Egware, 1997; Joel, 2008; Ogwumike, 1995; Oladeji and Abiola, 1998). For example,
there is the suggestion of land reform where there is great disparity in access to land due
to long-time income disparity, opportunity and institutional abuse which result in the
majority of the citizens being deprived of land (Ogwumike, 1995).
The restitutionary land reform, as another approach, proceeds from the need to
address past injustices in land ownership like the case of aparth eid in South Africa
(Quisumbing and Maluccio, 1999, 2003). This is in the nature of a land reform through
government’s use of police powers to acquire an appropriate land among citizens in
order to make land available to those in need of it for economic survival. An example of
this approach was the land redistribution reform in Zimbabwe that led to the confiscation
of swathes of commercial land from white minority farmers for the purpose of giving
majority of the citizens access to land (Yingstrom, 2002: 26). But a land reform that is
carried out without government’s use of force but through the invincible hand of the
market has also been advocated (Oladeji and Abiola, 1998).
There is the procedural approach advocated by De Soto (2001), which proposes that
whichever way ownership or access to land is achieved, a land reform should be about
formalizing or documenting title in order to realize the full value of land for economic
development and poverty reduction. These approaches to land reform for the purpose of
poverty reduction are general, at large and not in specific context as in women’s poverty
in a particular country like Nigeria. Suggestions towards addressing the phenomenon of
poverty through reforming existing land ownership regime have to be in particular
context and in specific situation. This article therefore examines, in the Nigerian context
and with specific reference to women, how poverty can be alleviated through land
reform. The article considers a land redistribution reform that is capable of addressing
52 International Journal of Discrimination and the Law 17(1)
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