Intrahousehold Relations and Environmental Entitlements of Land and Livestock for Women in Rural Kano, Northern Nigeria

Saadatu Umaru Baba,Dan Van Der Horst

doi:10.3390/environments5020026

Saadatu Umaru Baba, Dan Van Der Horst

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/environments5020026

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Journal: Environments	Publication Date: Feb 12, 2018
Citations: 4	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Birmingham, University of Edinburgh

Abstract

Gender relations mediate access to the environment in a variety of ways, through formal institutions such as customary law or informal social norms operating at the household level. This is particularly so in rural areas of the global south that are highly dependent on natural resources for livelihoods. The environmental entitlements framework is useful in examining the influence of informal institutions on access to environmental resources among differentiated social actors. In this paper, we use the environmental entitlements framework to map entitlements to land and livestock, and explore the capabilities they provide for women in rural northern Nigeria. The aim of the study was to examine the influence of social norms governing marriage and inheritance on women’s entitlements to land and livestock. The study methods were qualitative and used in-depth interviews and household case studies. We find that environmental entitlements of land and livestock for women are mediated by their relationships to men, through marriage or kinship, and through the different intra household arrangements within marriage, including seclusion, non-seclusion, and polygyny. Women are able to gain command of natural resources through negotiations within these relationships and within the wider social norms governing Hausa society. While these institutions can restrict the capabilities women derive from natural resources, women may delay or forgo entitlements as a means of enhancing their wellbeing.

Highlights

Social differentiation is important in understanding access to natural resources and their control and use, especially in societies that rely directly on natural resources for food, income, and livelihoods.These are often poor rural people in developing countries [1]
One important social differentiation is that of gender, defined as the ‘sociocultural layer that sits atop biological sex’ [2]
The study area comprises 2 small farming communities in rural Kano State in northern Nigeria. They lie in what is called the Kano Close Settled Zone (KCSZ), a densely populated dryland region in northern Nigeria which forms part of the Sudan Sahelian region of West Africa known for its erratic rainfall and limited biological productivity [49]

Summary

Introduction

Social differentiation is important in understanding access to natural resources and their control and use, especially in societies that rely directly on natural resources for food, income, and livelihoods.These are often poor rural people in developing countries [1]. Gender is important in understanding environmental issues because of the long association between concepts of gender and nature, and the gendered interface of human labour with the environment [3], and because it mediates environmental attitudes and action [4]. It influences people’s ability to utilise and benefit from ecosystem services, their vulnerability to climate change and adaptive capacity, and it often determines levels of poverty [5,6,7]. The division of labour in livestock management and the multiple roles of livestock for women in rural Africa & Asia

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