New study portrays women’s disadvantageous position due to deprivation in land ownership, wage discrimination and non-recognition of unpaid works 

Women constitute nearly 65% of farm labour force in Bangladesh, yet they have very limited land ownership, making them mostly work under the supervisions of their male counterparts.

Most of the tasks they deliver in agriculture production value chain are unpaid work, and when it comes to earning wages for farm labour, women receive far less compared to what men earn for the same jobs.

Despite recent advancements in land reforms across Africa, women and girls are still hugely disadvantaged, according to a recent meeting of experts. The 2020 Africa Land Forum (ALC), which took place online between 15 and 17 September, brought together 500 participants to explore the theme ‘Delivering on the African Union Agenda 2063 by Promoting People-Centered Land Governance in Africa’.

In a new study, researchers say that land inequality is rising in most countries. Worse, new measures and analysis proves that land inequality is significantly higher than previously recorded, with data reporting a 41 percent increase compared to traditional census data.

A Recent Victory

In September 2020, President Mokgweetsi Masisi amended the 2015 Land Policy to give married women in Botswana the right to own land. Previously, married women were only eligible to own land if their husbands did not. The policy excluded not only married women but widows and single mothers as well, which left millions of women affected.

Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (ERA/FoEN) and other stakeholders have said practice of gender inequality in land governance has increased poverty and deprivation among women in the society.
 
The Executive Director, ERA/FoEN, Dr. Godwin Ojo, who was represented by a lecturer at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Dr. Ralph Offiong, said this at the weekend, during a validation workshop on review of Land Use Act 1978, yesterday, in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

In the six months since the coronavirus began its global spread, more than 15 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and more than 600,000 have perished. Governments around the world have instituted lockdowns and shut down businesses. Entire industries have been devastated, notably travel, hospitality, and entertainment in the formal sector, and day labor and street and market vendors in the informal sector. Overall, hundreds of millions of people worldwide have lost their livelihoods.

The second round of LAND-at-scale resulted in 24 ideas submitted by 19 Dutch embassies. The LAND-at-scale Committee selected 6 most promising ideas to develop further. 

LAND-at-scale is a government programme that contributes to improving land governance. The programme supports economic development, peace and stability in developing countries. It also contributes to sustainable incomes, social justice, and better food and nutrition security.

An Indonesian man is seeking someone to buy his plot of land and marry his sister-in-law, in what has become another viral real estate ad in the country to be bundled with a marriage deal.

In the ad, which was posted on Facebook on Tuesday, the land owner, Aris Sofiyanto, wrote the following:

‘WOLTS Team Perspectives’ is a new series of blogs launched in February 2020 by the global WOLTS team. In this series, field team members share their views about the impacts of the project’s action-research on gender, land and mining among pastoralist communities in Tanzania and Mongolia.

From forced displacement to conflict over resources, the coronavirus pandemic has created a “perfect storm” for land rights abuses - and the situation is likely to worsen, researchers and activists warned on Thursday.

The migration of men to rural areas due to lockdowns and job losses has increased competition over land, with a disproportionate impact on woman, said organisers of a land rights webinar.