ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how various colonial and state policies of privatization and land distribution limit women's access to land, and shows how the failure of public policies to prevent land degradation affects rural women's lives. It also discusses how colonial and postcolonial policies in North America and Africa have excluded women from land. Many of the women hope to build stronger linkages with urban women's communities; few consider themselves closely connected to traditional rural culture. Lesbians without traditional ties to the land experience difficulties, but landownership comes no more easily to women in sub-Saharan Africa. The global trend in land policy leans towards privatization, although policies take multiple forms in different regions of the world. Major environmental problems that accompany agriculture include degradation of land through soil erosion, fertility decline due to overuse and poor production practices, and contamination of soil and water through use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
