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E-book
Author Mafa, Onias, author.

Title Gender, politics and land use in Zimbabwe 1980-2012 / Onias Mafa, Enna S. Gudhlanga, Norman Manyeruke, Ephraim H.M. Matavire, John Mpofu
Published Dakar, Senegal : CODESRIA, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, [2015]
[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 2015

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Description 1 online resource (1 PDF (xvi, 233 pages)) : illustrations, maps
Series Codesria book series
Codesria book series.
Contents 1. Background to the study -- 2. Research methodology -- 3. The historical context of land in Zimbabwe -- 4. Land reform programme -- 5. Gender and land politics in Zimbabwe -- 6. Presentation, discussion and interpretation of findings
Summary The agrarian reform dynamics in southern Africa have to be understood within the framework of colonial land policies and legislation that were designed essentially to expropriate land and natural resource property rights from the Indigenous people in favour of the white settlers. Colonial land policies institutionalised racial inequity with regard to land although conditions are not homogeneous there are broad themes that cut across the southern Africa region. Colonialism dispossessed and impoverished the people by taking away the most productive lands. Neoliberal globalization has undermined the people's well-being through direct influences on agriculture and rural economies in conjunction with policies promoted by national governments and international agencies. Another shared feature is to be found in the high rates of unemployment, poor returns to small-scale agriculture, lack of access to social services such as health and education all of which serve to erode existing livelihood activities and perpetuate relative and absolute poverty in rural areas. This comparative study on Zimbabwe's agrarian reforms may provide countries such as South Africa and Namibia with valuable lessons, as they attempt their own land reforms. Conflicts between colonialists and the Indigenous people in the then Rhodesia centred mainly on the land question. This inequitable distribution of land resulted in Africans waging liberation struggles in order to reclaim their land from the colonialists. In most post-colonial countries, calls have been made for land redistribution as a way of redressing colonial injustices in land tenure systems. The process of reclamation of land and redistributing it to the Indigenous people is fraught with problems and has resulted in the present-day land crisis in many parts of Africa and other continents. These are some of the issues this book examines, attempts to understand and explain from a gender perspective. Gender relations are viewed in terms of land use and ownership in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial Zimbabwe. These socially constructed roles have been found to be unequal in terms of power and decision making. It is argued that lessening of social inequalities between men and women reduces poverty, raises farm efficiency and improves natural resource management. The book emphasises that once women are empowered, the quality of life of their households improves
Notes "This book is a product of CODESRIA Comparative Research Network."
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-223)
Notes Print version record
Subject Women -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Zimbabwe
Women and land use planning -- Zimbabwe
Women's rights -- Zimbabwe
Land tenure -- Zimbabwe
Land reform -- Zimbabwe
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Real Estate -- General.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Gender Studies.
Land reform
Land tenure
Women and land use planning
Women -- Legal status, laws, etc.
Women's rights
Zimbabwe
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Mpofu, John, author.
Matavire, Ephraim H. M., author.
Manyeruke, Norman, author.
Gudhlanga, Enna Sukutai, author.
ISBN 9782869786707
2869786700