Rural livelihoods and land reform in South Africa: An intersectional perspective on women's lived experiences

Abstract

Through racialised discrimination under colonialism and apartheid, black people in South Africa were dispossessed of their land. They were often forced into cheap labour for the new mining economic complex and industrial sector. Land dispossession was thus about economic deprivation, eradication of subsistence agriculture, and degradation of the black communities. This resulted in a racialised unequal land distribution, culminating in historical inequalities and poverty along race lines. The 1994 democratic government introduced the land reform programme. The land reform process took the form of restitution, redistribution, and tenure reform. Women were also earmarked for prioritisation and seeking to redress racial inequalities in land access and ownership. The paper utilises an intersectionality approach to explore women farmers' lived experiences of the land reform programme. The paper argues that intersectionality is suitable for exploring gender, class, and age dynamics necessary for understanding women's lived experiences. Particular attention is paid to how the women gained access to and ownership of land and the unique challenges and constraints they experienced as women of a specific class. The paper further aims to examine whether the amendment of the constitution of South Africa with the inclusion of Land Expropriation Without Compensation will help address gender, class, and age differences in land ownership. The paper draws from existing literature and secondary data on women's involvement in farming and the implementation of the land reform programme in Limpopo Province. This article contributes to the body of knowledge that explores the relationship between gender, land reform, Land Expropriation Without Compensation, and land ownership.