Land Rights and Gender Relations in Areas of Rural Africa : a Question of Power and Discourse

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Abstract
Throughout most areas of Africa, women carry out the majority of agricultural labour activities and yet, despite their contributions, are inadequately recognized, supported and valued by the global economic system. This is especially evident in terms of their rights to land and productive resources. Essentially, women have not been accorded the same opportunities as men to establish control over the profits and consequences of their agricultural labour. Denial of such opportunities is sometimes blatant, but is more often subtle and in many instances is revealed through the discourses of both 'law' and 'tradition'. This article looks at the continuously evolving interplay apparent amoung various discourses of legality. By emphasizing how power relations are used to mechanize these discourses, the article attempts to construct a conceptual framework geared to facilitating a gender sensitive analysis of land rights in areas of rural Africa. More specifically, the article argues that, in Africa, it is often through the discourse of 'tradition' that both women and men have managed to advance and protect their interests.