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Securing Women's Interests within Land Tenure Reforms: Recent Debates in Tanzania
Author(s) -
Tsikata Dzodzi
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of agrarian change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.63
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1471-0366
pISSN - 1471-0358
DOI - 10.1111/1471-0366.00053
Subject(s) - tanzania , adjudication , context (archaeology) , land tenure , state (computer science) , government (linguistics) , political science , customary land , public administration , land law , political economy , law , sociology , economic growth , socioeconomics , economics , geography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , algorithm , computer science , agriculture
This article is an account of the debates around the recent land tenure reforms in Tanzania. It focuses on the discourses of Government officials, academic researchers and NGO activists on the implications of the reforms for women's interests in land and the most fruitful approaches to the issues of discriminatory customary law rules and male–dominated land management and adjudication institutions at national and village levels. The article argues that from being marginal to the debates, women's interests became one of the most contentious issues, showing up divisions within NGO ranks and generating accusations of State co–optation and class bias. It illustrates the implications of the recent positive reappraisal of African customary laws and local–level land management institutions for a specific national context, that of Tanzania.