Paper short abstract:

African women are increasingly mediating their disadvantaged situation in accessing land, thereby constituting themselves as agents in accessing and securing land. This paper examines how women are demonstrating agency and the potential of such, in altering institutions engendering land rights.

Paper long abstract:

Some literature on gender and land rights indicates that women's access to agricultural land is improving due to migration, education and economic changes. The indication is that, while the cultural and social norms inhibiting women's access to, and control over land still exist, women are increasingly taking advantage of migration, education and economic changes to mediate their disadvantaged situation with respect to land and are thereby constituting themselves not as mere victims but as agents in accessing and securing land. This paper seeks to examine how women are demonstrating agency in securing land, the extent to which these strategies reinforce and/or challenge existing gender orders as well as the potential of women's land tenure-making to alter institutions underpinning gendered land rights from an intersectional perspective. The paper draws heavily on secondary data sources as well as the earlier works of the authors in rural livelihoods to argue that, the fact that some women are securing land does not legitimizes the strategies used, nor does it guarantee any secured land tenure for the majority of landless women in Ghana. The need for deliberate, targeted efforts that attack the root causes of insecure gendered land rights is therefore recommended.

Key Words: Agency, Agriculture, Ghana, Gender, Land, Women