ABSTRACT
The chapter problematizes the right to food and gender justice within a framework of multiple jurisdictional orders. Right to food entails the presence of resources that enable the production and access to adequate food. In rural areas, land, which is a critical resource, is unevenly distributed, with women having access to the least, which is even contested. We used experiences of women in rural Ghana to illustrate the complexities of the arguments of women’s ability to choose jurisdiction in a legal pluralistic society. Using various typologies of disinheritance, land, labour, and spousal property right cases, we have argued that while there are merits in the debate concerning the opportunities in pluralistic normative frameworks for women, power relations determine what women can do with the multiple institutions. The legal pluralism context in Ghana for dispute resolution provides flexibility to women. In most cases, it provides a window to escape procedural rigidity and technicalities associated with the various jurisdictions. Plural legal institutions also provide an opportunity for women to assert customary legitimacy, local sovereignty, self-authorship and affirmation of cultural identity, and a sense of belonging, and, at the same time, seek protection from the state. We also highlight the vexed question about women’s choices rooted in power relations and women’s strategies in negotiating the multiple institutions.
