ABSTRACT
In most traditional economies, customary laws uphold the principle of patriarchy
in which girls and women are discriminated against from birth and socialized to
GENDER JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT: LOCAL AND GLOBAL
live a life of male subordination throughout, either as daughters, sisters, wives,
or widows. This leaves women with little power in decisions that affect their
lives. The literature on women and land in sub-Saharan Africa and part of
Southeast Asia is generally pessimistic on the possibilities of women owning land
through inheritance. Palmer (2002), for example, points to the literature on
gender and land rights, indicating the barriers and stiff resistance from
stakeholders on issues of land rights, despite many years of lobbying and
evidence from economic research and analysis of the role women play in all
spheres of life. Land distribution and tenure in sub-Sahara Africa is still governed
and managed by local customary tenure systems of rights (UNRISD 2006, p. 3). Land remains a principal yet contentious factor of production in most
developing economies of Africa, South America and Asia. Over time the land
questions have shifted towards issues surrounding access to and control of land.
