Abstract
The main purpose of this paper was to identify the status of rural women to access and control over land in East Gojjam since 1974. Despite measures taken to ensure gender equality in land ownership since 1974, women in Ethiopia in general and in East Gojjam in particular experienced more challenges related with access to and control over land. In Gojjam, the first redistribution of land during the Derg regime took place 3 years later after the 1975 land reform. Although the reform granted female headed households to equal access of land based on their household sizes, they were allocated unproductive, swampy and marginal lands attributed to patriarchal social norms, customary practices and poor legal services. However, since 1991 women’s status to land ownership was relatively changed. All women, despite differences in marital status, were entitled to independent land ownership with land certificate to increase security during divorce or land related disputes. In order to realize the intended objectives, both primary and secondary sources of data were collected. Primary sources of information were collected through interviews and focus group discussions with elderly people, women, husbands, relatives of women, government authorities at kebele and woreda level. The introduction of land certificate has relatively reduced boundary disputes and increased the confidence and the status of women in the society. However, there are significant challenges in terms of the degree of access and control women have over land. Thus, attention should be given in addressing constraints related with women’s land right.
Highlights
The main purpose of this paper was to identify the status of rural women to access and control over land in East Gojjam since 1974
Teshome (2015) noted that due to economic, legal, social and cultural factors women’s right to access and control over land are weaker compared to their male counterpart
The Abbay River is the border of East Gojjam from the northeast through to the east, up to southwest
Summary
The main purpose of this paper was to identify the status of rural women to access and control over land in East Gojjam since 1974. (Hadera 2002; Teshome 2015; Tenaw et al 2009) argued that though, women have policy support over farmland possession in Ethiopia, the socio-cultural norms and customary practices did not allow women to decide whether and how a resource should be used, how it is to be allocated and share the benefits. This in turn made women one of the most vulnerable groups of the society, socially inferior and economically dependent on men
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