Women's access to land and natural resources is a key international issue. Too often, women's rights to land and natural resources are minimised or denied in favour of men, even though they make up the bulk of the peasant workforce and play a key role in agricultural production and natural resource management. This is the combined result of two major factors:
customs reinforced by the misinterpretation of religion,
land policies and laws that do not sufficiently recognise the place of women
Women peasants are therefore doubly penalised, on the one hand because as peasants they are subject to the same pressure as men in terms of land grabbing, particularly on the commons which are often their main source of resources, and on the other hand because within the communities they are discriminated against by patriarchal traditions.
Young people are also affected by these patriarchal customs, which also make it difficult for them to access land and become empowered, with the result that they tend to flee the rural world and abandon agriculture, weakening communities and leaving them vulnerable to external pressures, when they could have an important role to play in strengthening them and ensuring the future of peasant agriculture. The difference with women is that young people are destined to become senior citizens, so this discrimination is temporary, unlike that affecting women.
This discussion will be based on the experience developed by the UACCDDDD (Union of Associations and Coordination of Associations for the Development of the Rights of the Poor), a member of the Malian Convergence Against Land Grabbing (CMAT) in Mali.
Purpose of this discussion
This approach was developed in the specific context of West Africa, and does not claim to have universal value. Struggles must be adapted to local and national contexts, and therefore the forms of mobilisation will necessarily be different in other regions. The objective of this debate will be to compare the experiences of women's struggles around the world with that of the UACCDD and to reflect on possible common actions between various organisations and regions mobilised around this struggle, and on the international advocacy to be strengthened.
Main co-organiser: Convergence of Struggles for Land and Natural Resources - West Africa on the occasion of the launch of the third West African Caravan on the Right to Land, Water and Peasant Agroecology.
Theme 2: Timeline
23 November: Launch videoconference
24 November to 16 December: online exchanges and discussions.
16 December : Closing of the theme with the presentation of 3 emblematic struggles presented by women farmers from all over the world
January 2021: Videos of the videoconferences and summary documents available on the website
The thematic discussion took place between 23 November and 16 December. You will find hereafter the recording of the launching videoconference (23/11/2021) as well as the closing one (16 December 2021).
Launch videoconference - 23/11/2021.
This one is available in French, and another one in Portuguese. For the English and Spanish versions, you can watch the videoconference in French with subtitles.
Speakers :
- Christian Castellanet - Agronomist and ecologist - AGTER
- Alonso Batista dos Santos - CONTAG
- Mônica Bufon Augusto - CONTAG
- Alair Dos Santos - Agricultural Policy Secretary - CONTAG
- Fanny Métrat - Confédération Paysanne
French version :
Portuguese version :
Closing video conference - 16/12/2021.
This one is available in French, and another one in Portuguese. For the English and Spanish versions, you can watch the videoconference in French with subtitles.
Find the programme and the speakers of this videoconference here :Programme
Speakers :
- Lucie Regal - Paysanne en France - Confédération Paysanne youth group
- Céline Berthier - Breeder and cheese-maker in France
- Mazé Morais - CONTAG
- Mônica Bufon Augusto - CONTAG
- Aïchata Koné - Communications Officer - CGLTE-OA
- Carmen diana Deere - Professor Emeritus of Latin American Studies and Economics at the University of Florida and FLACSO
- Hélène Guetat - Professor of Higher Agricultural Education at the Ecole Nationale de Formation Agronomique
French version :
Portuguese version:
15 participations
Online comments
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Camila Guedes
16 December 2021 15:13
Brasil CONTAG - Compartilho com vocês o LINK da plataforma Politica da Marcha das Margaridas -
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.contag.org.br%2Fimagens%2Fctg_file_1236339083_14082019151003.pdf&clen=18495388&chunk=true
Abraços
audrey
13 December 2021 16:27
A continuation of a text written and shared by Céline Berthier, goat farmer and cheese maker in Ardèche (she was one of the speakers at the closing conference on 16/12). This text was published in Campagnes Solidaires, the monthly magazine of the Confédération Paysanne, in October 2021. It is an analysis of the book "Le genre du capital", by sociologists Céline Bessière and Sybille Gollac. Le genre du capital. How the family reproduces inequalities As a farmer, you own land, buildings and your business. To acquire them, you have saved and/or inherited. What do you peasant women own?... Read more "
Legay Christian
13 December 2021 12:49
Hello, In the framework of the promotion of agro-ecological transition and agro-ecology, the issue of securing land is of great importance for all actors concerned in order to secure investments. And, specifically, the issue of secure access to land for women and young people remains crucial! In the absence of a solution for young people and the lack of status for the latter within family farms (non-participation in decisions managed by the elders), the latter migrate or go to the gold-mining sites. The situation is aggravated in peri-urban areas by land speculation linked to the companies... Read more "
Elena Lazos
12 December 2021 22:38
Desde México, puedo decir lo siguiente con respecto al acceso de las mujeres a la tierra: Incluso si la ley agraria reconoce el derecho a las mujeres a la tierra, en la pratica esto no se lleva a cabo. Firstly, customs and traditions in terms of inheritance mean that it is mostly the male children who receive the land or the largest share of the land. Incluso cuando las mujeres reciben tierras, por lo general, éstas son de menor calidad o se encuentran lejos del pueblo. Así aunque la ley agraria estipule los derechos a la tierra... Read more "
Sanou Fatouma
10 December 2021 10:07 am
[Theme 2] Hello. Thank you for the videoconference and for the interventions in this space. Thank you Paolo Groppo for the bridge with the FMAT 2016 and with the collective journey of reflections and struggles. I would like to add: 1) these inequalities of access to land rights for women are intertwined with other inequalities and with a certain structuring of our way of living in the world and of being in relation that it would be important to debate as well. Feminist movements and critical thinking have questioned this. 2) A sharing of field experience and hypotheses/questions. During a... Read more "
Michel Merlet
6 December 2021 17:47
I was waiting for new contributions to intervene, but I still see very few, with 10 days to go before the end of the online reflection, and apart from an intervention from Guinea, none from West African organisations, unfortunately. The first videoconference, which was fortunately enriched by an important participation from CONTAG given the impossibility for the convergence of struggles in West Africa to connect, leads me to the following comments and questions: 1/ Women's and young people's access to land varies a lot according to social groups and groups... Read more "
Hello, thank you for your contributions! There is no need to translate them yourself, there is an automatic translation tool that translates into the 4 main languages of the forum
POMMIER
5 December 2021 16:12
FRENCH The question of women's and young people's access to land seems to me to be badly posed. The problems faced by women are one thing, those of young people are another. These two situations must therefore be dealt with in a specific way and not be mixed up. With regard to women's access to land, the central issue is that of the inequality of women's rights in relation to men. In most human societies, women and men have integrated the idea that their natural differences are the source of their unequal rights. In other words,... Read more "
the result of our actions is as follows:
1-the traditional regulation of land acquisition,
2-the sale of arable land after 2 or 3 years of use
3-decreasing the rate of crop exchange
4-the organisation of exchange and information meetings on the effective and complete use of borrowed land.
Aboubacar Hawa SYLLA
3 December 2021 16:45
In Guinea Conakry, women's and young people's access to land is a sensitive issue insofar as men are reticent about the matter. It is thought that women and young people should always inherit land, but in the absence of a male family representative. For effective access, women and young people are obliged to submit to the demands of men who in return demand a share of their crops. We have carried out awareness raising activities in village communities on issues related to the integration and acceptance of... Read more "
Hello Sylla, thank you for your testimony. If I understand correctly in Guinea, men agree to lend their land to women or young people, but in exchange for a share of their harvest, which means that they are considered as precarious tenants/occupants? And what has been the result of your awareness-raising activities?
Aboubacar Hawa SYLLA
3 December 2021 16:26
Hello to all,
I am Sylla Aboubacar Hawa,
NGO Save the Guinean Environment,
paolo groppo
3 December 2021 15:57
Recordando los trabajos del grupo temático del FMAT de 2016, creo sería conveniente que las distintas organizaciones hicieran un balance de las acciones que han llevado a cabo para avanzar en la lista de propuestas recogidas en el documento final del grupo. = PROPUESTAS Las acciones ciudadanas deben apuntar al fortalecimiento de las organizaciones de mujeres, a la presencia de mujeres en las organizaciones campesinas y también a la educación de las sociedades en su conjunto. Strengthen women's movements and their presence in rural organizations: Promote basic legal training for women so that they are aware of the law... Read more "
paolo groppo
3 December 2021 15:54
Herencia de tierras La intervención de Fanny, una campesina francesa, me pareció muy interesante. Ya hay muchas pruebas de estudios nacionales y/o regionales que confirman que en los sistemas legales y consuetudinarios, la mayoría de las mujeres, independientemente de su estado civil, no pueden heredar tierras a su nombre. Un problema que no sólo afecta a los países del Sur, sino también, como confirma Fanny, a los del Norte. Quería recordar cómo este asunto fue un tema muy discutido durante la FMAT de Valencia de 2016. El grupo de trabajo específico dedicado a las cuestiones de la tierra desde una... Read more "
audrey
3 December 2021 15:35
Hello everyone, The launch conference of the theme 2 took place on 23 November 2021 (you can find it on our Youtube channel at this address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MnK31CwZCY&t=1000s ). The various interventions raised several questions. The 3 weeks that separate us from the closing conference, which will take place on 16 December, should allow you to exchange and bring analyses/solutions/proposals to the questions raised! As a follow-up, we propose a list of questions (not exhaustive) to launch the discussions on this theme: What is the specific place of women and men in the labour market?... Read more "
"Access to land for women and young people
(October-December 2021)
Thematic discussion coordinated by Agter and the CGLTE-OA
Main topics covered:
The importance of women and youth for the future of the peasantry
Structural differences in treatment and consideration between men and women and specific violence linked to patriarchy
Young people's difficulties in accessing land
Customary land rights and their impact on women's and young people's rights, how to make them more inclusive?
The role of farmers' organisations
Concrete ways forward on women's empowerment and organisation
During this discussion of theme 2, we collected testimonies of the struggles of women and young peasants from different countries around the world and shared a series of testimonies on our Youtube channel.
You will find here two of these testimonies, that ofAïchata Koné (CGLTE-OA) and of Yeva Swart (ECVC), a young Dutch farmer .
Yeva Swart's testimony in English with subtitles available in French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Yeva Swart is a young farmer from the Netherlands. In this video she gives us a brief overview of the obstacles that young people and women face when they want to set up a farm. There is an urgent need for European and international solutions to facilitate women's and young people's access to land.
Testimony of Aïchata Koné in French with subtitles available in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Aichata Koné is a young Malian activist with energy to spare! Her testimony takes us from her native region of Yanfoyila to Bamako. She tells us about her journey, that of a fighter for women's rights, and more broadly for the rights of peasants to access land. As Aichata says: "To all the women of the world and to all the girls of the world, together we will go all the way! Same damage, same fight, we have rights too! "
Brasil CONTAG - Compartilho com vocês o LINK da plataforma Politica da Marcha das Margaridas -
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.contag.org.br%2Fimagens%2Fctg_file_1236339083_14082019151003.pdf&clen=18495388&chunk=true
Abraços
A continuation of a text written and shared by Céline Berthier, goat farmer and cheese maker in Ardèche (she was one of the speakers at the closing conference on 16/12). This text was published in Campagnes Solidaires, the monthly magazine of the Confédération Paysanne, in October 2021. It is an analysis of the book "Le genre du capital", by sociologists Céline Bessière and Sybille Gollac. Le genre du capital. How the family reproduces inequalities As a farmer, you own land, buildings and your business. To acquire them, you have saved and/or inherited. What do you peasant women own?... Read more "
Hello, In the framework of the promotion of agro-ecological transition and agro-ecology, the issue of securing land is of great importance for all actors concerned in order to secure investments. And, specifically, the issue of secure access to land for women and young people remains crucial! In the absence of a solution for young people and the lack of status for the latter within family farms (non-participation in decisions managed by the elders), the latter migrate or go to the gold-mining sites. The situation is aggravated in peri-urban areas by land speculation linked to the companies... Read more "
Desde México, puedo decir lo siguiente con respecto al acceso de las mujeres a la tierra: Incluso si la ley agraria reconoce el derecho a las mujeres a la tierra, en la pratica esto no se lleva a cabo. Firstly, customs and traditions in terms of inheritance mean that it is mostly the male children who receive the land or the largest share of the land. Incluso cuando las mujeres reciben tierras, por lo general, éstas son de menor calidad o se encuentran lejos del pueblo. Así aunque la ley agraria estipule los derechos a la tierra... Read more "
[Theme 2] Hello. Thank you for the videoconference and for the interventions in this space. Thank you Paolo Groppo for the bridge with the FMAT 2016 and with the collective journey of reflections and struggles. I would like to add: 1) these inequalities of access to land rights for women are intertwined with other inequalities and with a certain structuring of our way of living in the world and of being in relation that it would be important to debate as well. Feminist movements and critical thinking have questioned this. 2) A sharing of field experience and hypotheses/questions. During a... Read more "
I was waiting for new contributions to intervene, but I still see very few, with 10 days to go before the end of the online reflection, and apart from an intervention from Guinea, none from West African organisations, unfortunately. The first videoconference, which was fortunately enriched by an important participation from CONTAG given the impossibility for the convergence of struggles in West Africa to connect, leads me to the following comments and questions: 1/ Women's and young people's access to land varies a lot according to social groups and groups... Read more "
Hello, thank you for your contributions! There is no need to translate them yourself, there is an automatic translation tool that translates into the 4 main languages of the forum
FRENCH The question of women's and young people's access to land seems to me to be badly posed. The problems faced by women are one thing, those of young people are another. These two situations must therefore be dealt with in a specific way and not be mixed up. With regard to women's access to land, the central issue is that of the inequality of women's rights in relation to men. In most human societies, women and men have integrated the idea that their natural differences are the source of their unequal rights. In other words,... Read more "
the result of our actions is as follows:
1-the traditional regulation of land acquisition,
2-the sale of arable land after 2 or 3 years of use
3-decreasing the rate of crop exchange
4-the organisation of exchange and information meetings on the effective and complete use of borrowed land.
In Guinea Conakry, women's and young people's access to land is a sensitive issue insofar as men are reticent about the matter. It is thought that women and young people should always inherit land, but in the absence of a male family representative. For effective access, women and young people are obliged to submit to the demands of men who in return demand a share of their crops. We have carried out awareness raising activities in village communities on issues related to the integration and acceptance of... Read more "
Hello Sylla, thank you for your testimony. If I understand correctly in Guinea, men agree to lend their land to women or young people, but in exchange for a share of their harvest, which means that they are considered as precarious tenants/occupants? And what has been the result of your awareness-raising activities?
Hello to all,
I am Sylla Aboubacar Hawa,
NGO Save the Guinean Environment,
Recordando los trabajos del grupo temático del FMAT de 2016, creo sería conveniente que las distintas organizaciones hicieran un balance de las acciones que han llevado a cabo para avanzar en la lista de propuestas recogidas en el documento final del grupo. = PROPUESTAS Las acciones ciudadanas deben apuntar al fortalecimiento de las organizaciones de mujeres, a la presencia de mujeres en las organizaciones campesinas y también a la educación de las sociedades en su conjunto. Strengthen women's movements and their presence in rural organizations: Promote basic legal training for women so that they are aware of the law... Read more "
Herencia de tierras La intervención de Fanny, una campesina francesa, me pareció muy interesante. Ya hay muchas pruebas de estudios nacionales y/o regionales que confirman que en los sistemas legales y consuetudinarios, la mayoría de las mujeres, independientemente de su estado civil, no pueden heredar tierras a su nombre. Un problema que no sólo afecta a los países del Sur, sino también, como confirma Fanny, a los del Norte. Quería recordar cómo este asunto fue un tema muy discutido durante la FMAT de Valencia de 2016. El grupo de trabajo específico dedicado a las cuestiones de la tierra desde una... Read more "
Hello everyone, The launch conference of the theme 2 took place on 23 November 2021 (you can find it on our Youtube channel at this address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MnK31CwZCY&t=1000s ). The various interventions raised several questions. The 3 weeks that separate us from the closing conference, which will take place on 16 December, should allow you to exchange and bring analyses/solutions/proposals to the questions raised! As a follow-up, we propose a list of questions (not exhaustive) to launch the discussions on this theme: What is the specific place of women and men in the labour market?... Read more "