extent, citizens. The patriarchal construction of society created a stratified gendered
socio-legal arrangement where women in particular, citizens or non-citizens, are
only expected to acquire land and soil rights through the forms of rights of their male
acquaintances, husbands, brothers or fathers. Under this arrangement, the male
acquaintances are in position to determine how the land and soil rights can be
acquired and accessed and how each can sustainably be utilized by any family
member.
5 The next section discusses how socio-legal stratification affects both
land and soil rights in Africa, using the case of Uganda.
2 Socio-Legal Stratification, Soil Rights and Land Tenure
Systems
The gendered nature of land and soil rights in Africa remains a problem in spite of
the global steps taken towards bridging the gaps between women and men in the
enjoyment of socio-legal and economic rights. The United Nations General Assembly recognized this fact while adopting the Beijing Declaration in 1995. During the
Beijing Conference, the United Nations General Assembly inter alia stated:
[T]he status of women has advanced in some important respects in the past decade, but that
progress has been uneven, inequalities between women and men have persisted and major
obstacles remain, with serious consequences for the well-being of all people.
6
The obstacles alluded to in the Beijing Declaration include custom, colonial law,
colonial history, colonial education, and religion all of which are informed by the
ideology of patriarchy—the rule of the fathers.
7 These obstacles create a stratified
and sectionalized environment where accessing land and soil rights within the
existing land tenurial systems remain skewed and tilted in favour of the male gender
and the citizens.
8 Within these stratified and sectionalized social structures, men and
citizens are the perceived social and legal owners of the land and soil.
9
Land tenure systems being the avenue through which land and soil rights can be
accessed, determine how an individual may utilize a particular parcel of land and its
soil. Access to land and soil rights in Uganda, therefore, cannot be divorced from the
patriarchal ideological contestations that created the land tenurial systems. Land
tenure systems in Uganda are provided for in the Constitution, 1995 and the Land
Act, Cap. 227 as: customary, freehold, mailo and leasehold.
5 Kagoda (2008).
6 United Nations (1995).
7 Government of Uganda, Land Policy (2013).
8 Busingye (2012).
9 Busingye (2017).
African Feminism, Land Tenure and Soil Rights in Africa: A Case of Uganda
135
socio-legal arrangement where women in particular, citizens or non-citizens, are
only expected to acquire land and soil rights through the forms of rights of their male
acquaintances, husbands, brothers or fathers. Under this arrangement, the male
acquaintances are in position to determine how the land and soil rights can be
acquired and accessed and how each can sustainably be utilized by any family
member.
5 The next section discusses how socio-legal stratification affects both
land and soil rights in Africa, using the case of Uganda.
2 Socio-Legal Stratification, Soil Rights and Land Tenure
Systems
The gendered nature of land and soil rights in Africa remains a problem in spite of
the global steps taken towards bridging the gaps between women and men in the
enjoyment of socio-legal and economic rights. The United Nations General Assembly recognized this fact while adopting the Beijing Declaration in 1995. During the
Beijing Conference, the United Nations General Assembly inter alia stated:
[T]he status of women has advanced in some important respects in the past decade, but that
progress has been uneven, inequalities between women and men have persisted and major
obstacles remain, with serious consequences for the well-being of all people.
6
The obstacles alluded to in the Beijing Declaration include custom, colonial law,
colonial history, colonial education, and religion all of which are informed by the
ideology of patriarchy—the rule of the fathers.
7 These obstacles create a stratified
and sectionalized environment where accessing land and soil rights within the
existing land tenurial systems remain skewed and tilted in favour of the male gender
and the citizens.
8 Within these stratified and sectionalized social structures, men and
citizens are the perceived social and legal owners of the land and soil.
9
Land tenure systems being the avenue through which land and soil rights can be
accessed, determine how an individual may utilize a particular parcel of land and its
soil. Access to land and soil rights in Uganda, therefore, cannot be divorced from the
patriarchal ideological contestations that created the land tenurial systems. Land
tenure systems in Uganda are provided for in the Constitution, 1995 and the Land
Act, Cap. 227 as: customary, freehold, mailo and leasehold.
5 Kagoda (2008).
6 United Nations (1995).
7 Government of Uganda, Land Policy (2013).
8 Busingye (2012).
9 Busingye (2017).
African Feminism, Land Tenure and Soil Rights in Africa: A Case of Uganda
135