Liberalisation, gender, and the land question in sub-Saharan Africa

This paper focuses on land reform initiatives undertaken in a number of African countries since the late 1980s. Current theories of land and debates on gender issues fail to explain the complex processes through which women's access and rights to land have been affected, contested, and negotiated during socio-economic and political restructuring. Drawing on the case studies of Tanzania and Zimbabwe, this paper is a call for policy-makers, researchers, and activists to return to these neglected issues.