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ical sciences Presentation at Gender and Assets Workshop - IFPRI, Washington DC. 13th Oct. 2011

Understanding the gendered

control of assets:

Findings from Uganda

Gorettie Nabanoga and Justine Namaalwa

School of Forestry, Environment and Geographical Studies Makerere

University

October 2011

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Project Goal/Objectives

HOW-

People gain secure access to assets

including land

The patterns differ for women and men

The formal legal frameworks and social

norms, including marital and inheritance

patterns, shape the individual’s access to

land and other assets

Presentation at Gender and Assets Workshop - IFPRI, Washington DC. 13th Oct. 2011

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Uganda- Study districts


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Study sites

Selection - based on the differences in land tenure

regimes and culture

3 Districts


District

Sample size (n)TotalMale Female

Kapchorwa 121 117 238

Kibaale 122 149 271

Luweero 111 150 261

Total 354 416 770

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METHODOLOGYFocus group discussions

[2 per village, separate for

men and women]

Key Informants

[Up to 4 per village]

Surveys

[HH=379; Indv=770]Primary Respondent

Other individuals (>18 yrs up to 3 pple)


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Major Assets considered


Major Assets

• Land & Dwelling

• Livestock

• Financial

• Phyical assets

Acquistion & Ownership patterns

Bundles of Rights

Marital and Inheritence Regimes

Fate of Property

Individual Perceptions

Extra Ordinary Losses and Shocks

Conflicts

Assets involved

Parties involved in Resolving

Considerations

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Bundles of Rights

• Use rights:

– Access , Withdrawal

• Control rights:

– Exclusion

– Management

– Alienation (transfer/Sell/Bequeath)

• Usufruct (earn income from)

Strengthening someone’s control rights weakens others’ use rights


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The study

Provides empirical evidence of:

• The concept of ownership in the context of

legal pluralism

– Goes beyond legalistic definition & considers

the social/cultural definition

• The importance of the various social &

cultural institutions in asset ownership &

accumulation

– Marriage +++Inheritance regimes


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Demographics


Marital Regimes

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Male

Fem

ale

Male

Fem

ale

Male

Fem

ale

KAPCHORWA KIBALE LUWEERO

% o

f R

esp

on

den

ts

Divorced

Widowed

Single

Consensual

Statutory&ReligiousCustomary Education

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Male

Fem

ale

Male

Fem

ale

Male

Fem

ale


Tertiary

A-Level

O-Level

Primary

No EducationMale Female

Kapchorwa 121 117Kibaale 122 149Luwero 111 150

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LAND – Reported Ownership


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Male Female Male Female Male Female


Joint-Other

Joint-Spouse

Sole Female

Sole Male

Individualistic

Parcels

Joint

Parcels

Men 110259

Women 94

• Joint Ownership was often

reported

• Individualistic ownership more

common in Kibaale and Luweero

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Land–Mode of Acquistion & Ownership


Individual Female Land Owners (n=94)

Inheritance

Gift/Transfer

Sole Purchase

Joint Purchase

Rent/Lease

Through Spouse

Individual Male Land owners (n=110)

Joint land Owners(n=329)

• Female owners

– Mainly inherit & receive gifts/ transfers

– Several purchases

• Male Owners

– More likely - Purchased & Inheritence

• Jointly owned Parcels

– Joint Purchases

– Inheritence & Through spouse = customary

notions

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Female Land Owners- Source

inherited land & Gifts/Transfers


Kapchorwa InheritedGifts/

Transfers

Respondent’s mother

Respondent’s father 2 1

Other relative 1Spouse 5 1

Government 3KibaaleRespondent’s mother 1 1Respondent’s father 2

Other relative 1Spouse 5 3Government 1

LuweeroRespondent’s mother 1 3Respondent’s father 5 1

Other relative 3 3Spouse 4 3

5% 4% 4%

6%

65%

15%

Marital Status of Women Individual Land Owners (n=94)

Customary Statutory/Religious

Consensual Single/Never Married

Widowed Divorced/Separated

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LAND- Ownership Documents


Documents Exisiting

• No Documentation = 27%

• Some Document = 73%

– Sales Receipts/Agreements = 80%

– Registered Deed = 6%

– Other documents e.g will = 15%

“Lack of registered deed ≠ imply

insecurity of ownership”

Names

• Individualistic Parcels

– Majority had personal names

• Joint parcels

– Mainly the names of male partner

Who owns a given

parcel of land

How was it Acquired

”Perceived”

Any form of Documentation

Names on the document

Legalistic Ownership

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% of men or women in that district N=

Perceived Ownership

Any document

in own name

Registereddeed in

own name

Kapchorwa Men 113 80% 59% 3%

Kapchorwa Women 125 69% 20% 1%

Kibaale Men 122 67% 57% 3%

Kibaale Women 149 60% 22% 0%

Luweero Men 111 61% 39% 0%

Luweero Women 150 49% 17% 3%

Total 770 63% 34% 2%

Total Men 346 69% 52% 2%

Total Women 424 58% 20% 1%

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What Would Qualify ”Ownership”?


OWN AN ASSET

Form of Acquisition Some proof of

Ownership

Control Rights•Exclusion•Management•Alienation (transfer)

Use Rights

• Access

• WIthdrawal

• Individually• Jointly = Prior consultations

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BUNDLES OF RIGHTS


Perceived Owner-ship Sell

Sellalone Bequeath

Bequeath alone

Rentout

Rent out alone

Kapchorwa M 80% 57% 2% 64% 3% 57% 4%

Kapchorwa W 69% 42% 2% 42% 2% 42% 3%

Kibaale M 67% 39% 4% 47% 5% 45% 3%

Kibaale W 60% 19% 4% 19% 5% 28% 6%

Luweero M 61% 28% 5% 38% 18% 33% 7%

Luweero W 49% 15% 5% 16% 9% 20% 6%

Total 63% 32% 4% 36% 7% 36% 5%

Total Men 69% 41% 4% 49% 8% 45% 5%

Total Women 58% 25% 4% 25% 5% 29% 5%

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Sources of Land Insecurity


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35



No

. o

f In

secu

re R

esp

on

den

ts

Sex of Respondent by District

Any Other Reasons

Illness of myself

Death of HH head

Eviction_Political person

Eviction_extended family

Eviction_landlord

• Evictions by Extended family and/Death of HH head

• Customary norms prevailing

• Resettled/immigrant communities

– Evictions by landlord; Situations of Bibanja holders = Absentee landlords

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Phyical assets & Consumer durables

• Luweero and Kibaale-highest no. physical assets

• Rural people accumulate less of the luxurious assets


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Shocks & Assets Sold/Pawned


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Illn

ess_

P

Illn

ess _

Oth

er

De

ath

HH

_m

em

ber

Na

tura

l D

isa

ste

rs

Ro

bb

ery

Pe

rso

na

l ill

ness

Iilln

ess _

HH

me

mb

er

De

ath

HH

_m

em

ber

Na

tura

l D

isa

ste

rs

Ro

bb

ery

Pe

rso

na

l ill

ness

Iilln

ess _

HH

me

mb

er

De

ath

HH

_m

em

ber

Na

tura

l D

isa

ste

rs

Ro

bb

ery


No

. C

as

es

Major Shock

• Respondents were

asked if they had

experienced a shock

and how they had

coped

• One response to

shocks is to sell assets

• Although patterns differ

by district, the most

common asset to sell in

response to shocks is

livestockLivestock, Land, other assets & dwelling

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CONFLICTS


• Most of the Conflicts

were related to land

– Ownership rights

• Most conflicts have

been or were under

resolution

• Kapchorwa = Active

Paralegals who worked

in hand with traditional

leaders

Role Players Kapchorwa Kibaale Luweero

Community leader (clan/elder) 59% 31% 27%Local Court/Official 14% 25% 35%

Family 23% 34% 30%

Other 4% 9% 8%

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PERCEPTIONS- INHERITANCE REGIMES


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%M

ale

Fem

ale

Male

Fem

ale

Male

Fem

ale


Equal Right to Inherit a House/Land

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Male

Fem

ale

Male

Fem

ale

Male

Fem

ale


Right for Wives to Inherit a Land/House

Don't know

Yes

No

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%



Right for Women to Claim House upon Divorce

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Key Messages1. Socio-cultural meaning/perception of property

(esp. land) ownership is different from the

legalistic definition

2. Land is one of the most important assets

– Productive resource after which accumulation of other

assets is facilitated

• Use of land to manage other resources e.g. livestock

• Use of the proceedings from the land-based activities e.g.cultivation to purchase other assets

• Land as collateral

– This implies that secure access to and/or ownership of

land would greatly enhance

• economic wellbeing, choice of livelihood, social status,

empowerment, asset accumulation for all individuals in

the community and more specifically the women

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Key Messages cont’d

3. We need to devise ways of securing women’s

existing property rights

– Women’s access to assets depends on different

stages of their life cycle (Daughter, wife, widow)

4. Even though rural communities would aspire to

register their land rights (titling), the process has

not benefitted rural communities

5. Our findings challenge the western notion of

ownership


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Presentation final ifpri workshop

Technology

Transcript of Presentation final ifpri workshop