Gender and Media Representations of Land Based Reforms in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Zimbabwe embarked on a fast-track land-reform programme that saw the massive transfer of land from white commercial farmers to black Zimbabweans. In the process, women accessed land and were able to set a new development pathway in which they became independent land beneficiaries. This work is based on a case study of fast track farms in South Eastern Zimbabwe examines how the media has projected the role of women as a social movement in the process of acquiring land. It is based on a case study of fast-track women farmers between 2009 and 2016. Conceptually, the gendered approach to land reform is examined in a theoretical framing in which the role that women play in agriculture alongside men is examined. Also addressed are: the ways in which processes of land reform operate in male and female spaces and how this reflects on land-reform processes; the effects of the different media projections on women`s role in land-reform programmes; policy solutions that centre on taking women as a starting-point in land-reform processes,; the value chain process in marketing; and the importance of gendered land reform.