COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITY

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COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITYS ONE WOMAN,
ONE HECTARE OF LAND CAMPAIGN

• PRESENTATION TO PARLIAMENTARY PORTFOLIO
  COMMITTEE ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM
• BY COMMISSIONER, DR. WALLACE AMOS MGOQI

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INTRODUCTION

• OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENTATION CAMPAIGN
• To introduce the one woman, one hectare of land
  campaign to Parliaments Portfolio Committee on
  Land Reform and Rural Development
• To appeal to Committee Members to Embrace the
  Objectives of the One woman, One Hectare of
  Land Campaign and lobby other relevant
  government departments to embrace it.
• To solicit support from Committee Members to
  mainstream gender equality in governments land
  reform programme by pushing for appropriate
  policies and legislation to increase womens
  access to land

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OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENTATION CAMPAIGN

• Given the tenuous and precarious nature of the
  relationship between women and land, always via a
  father, male sibling, husband or uncle, the state
  should have a role in allocating a minimum of one
  hectare of land or more, to the very poor women,
  in urban, peri-urban and rural areas.
• Private sector institutions may also participate
  in this by making land available for productive
  and sustainable use, in their own enlightened
  self-interest.
• The beneficiaries could use the one hectare for
  housing or growing food, in a sustainable way.

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ONE WOMAN, ONE HECTARE OF LAND

• In 2012 the CGE initiated the One Woman, One
  Hectare of Land Campaign with the aim of
  fighting for the rights of women to enjoy equal
  access to land
• The CGE has been driving the campaign, with the
  collaboration of the then Dept. for Women,
  Children and People with Disabilities (DWCPD),
  and now with the Ministry for Women in the
  Presidency.
• While the CGE cannot implement the program, its
  mandate and functions include monitoring
  government departments, other public and private
  sector institutions, as well as civil society
  entities to promote respect for gender equality
  and the protection, development and attainment of
  gender equality in accordance with the
  Constitution.

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ONE WOMAN, ONE HECTARE OF LAND

• The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE)
  recognises the importance of access to land as a
  vital resource to sustain livelihoods for rural
  households across the country
• Historically, access to and ownership of land in
  South Africa has been controlled by males through
  social, cultural, religious and traditional
  systems that entrenched patriarchy thus denying
  women access
• Apartheid era policies and laws, compounded by
  social, cultural, traditional and religious
  practices within our communities made sure that
  womens access to and control over land was
  severely restricted over the years
• This is in spite of women making up the vast
  majority (70) of the labour force needed to
  maintain the productive land and work it both for
  subsistence and commercial agricultural farming
  yet have limited ownership and control over farm
  land.

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ONE WOMAN, ONE HECTARE OF LAND

• In 2011 the Commission for Gender Equality
  published a Research Report on SAs Land Reform
  process from 2000 to 2010.
• The findings, among other things, revealed that
  women constituted only 13 of the total number
  of the beneficiaries of the land reform process
• The findings also indicated that the land reform
  process was not gender sensitive, with Communal
  Property Associations (CPAs) continuing to be
  male-dominated.
• Studies have consistently shown that there are
  higher levels of poverty, unemployment or
  underemployment among women than among men.

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ONE WOMAN, ONE HECTARE OF LAND

• Figures from STATSA also show that there are
  higher levels of poverty among female-headed
  households compared to male-headed households in
  South Africa
• This is clear evidence of the feminisation of
  poverty in South Africa
• This is combined with womens vulnerability to
  violence, rape and HIV/AIDs infections,
  underpinned by their economic deprivation leading
  to financial dependence on their spouses
• The One woman One Hectare of Land Campaign is
  therefore aimed at addressing the high levels of
  poverty among women, especially in the rural
  areas

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ONE WOMAN, ONE HECTARE OF LAND

• The basic tenets of the One Woman, One Hectare
  of Land Campaign therefore is for the state to
  allocate a minimum of one hectare of land to the
  most vulnerable rural women, who are ready and
  able to use it productively.
• While CGE is aware that land ownership in itself
  will not extricate women from poverty and
  dependence on men, state assistance for women to
  turn their activities into sustainable businesses
  that provide sustainable incomes will be
  important.
• The state has a critical role to play in terms of
  turning this campaign into reality

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ONE WOMAN, ONE HECTARE OF LAND

• The CGE has consulted various civil society
  organisations, particularly women land advocacy
  groups (e.g. the Rural Women Assembly of Southern
  Africa) and secured their support and endorsement
  of its One Woman, One Hectare of Land campaign
• The CGE is also convinced that this campaign
  will resonate with women in general as it
  encapsulates their conditions of subjugation
  especially on the issue of land.
• The CGE does acknowledge that issue of land
  allocation to individual women or men, especially
  in communal areas, has to be approached with
  caution and circumspection.

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ONE WOMAN, ONE HECTARE OF LAND

• The CGE does not advocate, in all cases, for
  full-blown individual ownership, but some
  guarantee of land allocation, something more than
  the Permission to Occupy, with a guarantee of
  financial support from the state upon the
  production of a business plan.
• Also where feasible, land ownership should be
  extended to women as individuals or heads of
  households.
• The CGE adopted this Campaign in line with its
  mandate, which goes beyond monitoring, to
  include lobbying and advocacy to promote gender
  equality

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DEVELOPMENTAL OBJECTIVES OF THE CAMPAIGN

• This initiative has a huge potential for job
  creation, in that as soon as land is allocated,
  either on ownership, lease or use basis, members
  of the community who are unemployed but willing
  to work, will find work for themselves
• This will be a black empowerment initiative in so
  far as it would be targeting landless and poor
  communities, principally women, with a view to
  transferring land rights and creating an
  inheritance for their children
• The initiative has the potential for uplifting
  the community, creating a dynamic of vibrancy
  and social cohesion from the youth to the adult
  population of the community
• The initiative will allow members of the family
  to acquire the knowledge and skills to pass on to
  the next generations.

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DEVELOPMENTAL OBJECTIVES OF THE CAMPAIGN (cont.)

• The initiative presents opportunities for
  participants to learn about issues of
  environmental sustainability and climate change,
  thus conducting themselves appropriately
• Introducing One Woman, One Hectare of Land, in
  the rural areas, and in communal land
  jurisdictions, may go a long way towards
  empowering large numbers of women, even helping
  in replenishing the loss of white commercial
  farmers producing food for the nation.
• As long as land allocation is accompanied by
  State financial assistance, and non-financial
  assistance to enable those allocated access to
  land to use it profitably, productively and
  sustainably.
• The beneficiaries might want to use the land
  individually or co-operatively.

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DEVELOPMENTAL OBJECTIVES OF THE CAMPAIGN (cont.)

• What does research show concerning women and
  land?
• Nourished children, whose mothers own land are
  33 less likely to be severely underweight.
• Safer women who own land are up to 8 times
  less likely to experience domestic violence.
• Prosperous women with strong property and
  inheritance rights earn up to 3.8 times more
  income.
• Healthy children in households where women own
  land are up to 10 less likely to be sick

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DEVELOPMENTAL OBJECTIVES OF THE CAMPAIGN (cont.)

• Educated families where women own more land
  devote more of their budget to education
• All this contributes towards a better world

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INSTRUMENTS ON GENDER EQUALITY AND ACCESS TO LAND

• The African Union has declared 2015 as a year of
  equality for women, womens rights, and women
  economic empowerment.
• AU state parties, private sector institutions and
  civil society formations are all expected to put
  their shoulders to the wheel to ensure that these
  objectives are turned into reality.
• AU Summit 2015 also surfaced issues of gender
  inequality and challenges faced by women in terms
  of lack of access to land as a barrier to
  economic development
• In terms of the Agenda 2063 issues, there
  acknowledgement of the feminisation of poverty in
  Africa and the need to alleviate poverty through
  modernised and productive agricultural sector,
  relying using science and technology and
  indigenous knowledge systems

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INSTRUMENTS ON GENDER EQUALITY AND ACCESS TO LAND

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Goal 5
• The UN has now adopted the Sustainable
  Development Goals (SDGs) and Goal 5 deals with
  gender equality and empowerment of women and
  girls. Target 5.a states Undertake reforms to
  give women equal rights to economic resources,
  as well as access to ownership and control over
  land and other forms of property, financial
  services, inheritance and natural resources, in
  accordance with national laws.
• This is a very important target in the promotion
  of gender equality, especially in the area of
  historic injustices suffered by women with regard
  to ownership and control of land and other
  forms of property.

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INSTRUMENTS ON GENDER EQUALITY AND ACCESS TO LAND

• The Campaign is underpinned by provisions
  supporting gender equality as contained in a
  number of domestic legislative frameworks, as
  well as a number of regional and international
  instruments as referred to below
• Domestic Legislative Frameworks
• Section187 (1) of the Constitution which states,
  The Commission for Gender Equality must promote
  respect for gender equality and the protection
  , development and attainment of gender
  equality.
• The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of
  Unfair Discrimination Act 4, of 2000 (PEPUDA).
• The Commission for Gender Equality Act No. 39 of
  1996

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INSTRUMENTS ON GENDER EQUALITY AND ACCESS TO LAND

• S.11 of the CGE Act No 39 of 1996, as amended,
  confers the following additional powers and
  functions
• Monitor
• Investigate
• Research
• Educate
• Lobby and Advocacy
• Advise Parliament and report on issues on gender
  equality.

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INSTRUMENTS ON GENDER EQUALITY AND ACCESS TO LAND

• Regional International Frameworks/Protocols/Inst
  ruments
• In addition to the Constitution and domestic
  laws, the following regional and global
  instruments apply
• The UN Convention on the Elimination of
  Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), in
  Article 14 (g), makes provision for access to
  agricultural credit and loans, marketing
  facilities, appropriate technology and equal
  treatment in land and agrarian reform as well
  as in land resettlement schemes.
• The Protocol to the African Charter on Human
  and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in
  Africa, (Article 19 on the Right to Sustainable
  Development) says

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INSTRUMENTS ON GENDER EQUALITY AND ACCESS TO LAND

• Regional International Frameworks/Protocols/Inst
  ruments
• Women shall have the right to fully enjoy
  their right to sustainable development. In this
  connection, the State Parties shall take all
  appropriate measures to
• (c) promote women's access to and control over
  productive resources such as land and
  guarantee their right to property.
• (d) promote women's access to credit, training,
  skills development and extension services at
  rural and urban levels in order to provide
  women with a higher quality of life and reduce
  the level of poverty among women.

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INSTRUMENTS ON GENDER EQUALITY AND ACCESS TO LAND

• Regional International Frameworks/Protocols/Inst
  ruments
• The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development
  makes provision for access to property and
  resources as follows
• State Parties shall ... review all policies and
  laws that determine access to, control of, and
  benefit from, productive resources by women in
  order to
• (a) end all discrimination against women and
  girls with regard to water rights and property
  such as land and tenure thereof
• (b) ensure that women have equal access and
  rights to credit, capital, mortgages, security
  and training as men, and (c) ensure that women
  have access to modern, appropriate and
  affordable technology and support services.

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THE ROLE OF OTHER RELEVANT INSTITUTIONS

• The CGE believes strongly that as the key
  institution in this sector the Department of
  Rural Development and Land Reform has a primary
  responsibility to ensure that right of women to
  equal access to land is realised
• Other key ministries of government including
  relevant sphere of government (national,
  provincial and Local government) should also play
  their roles in others sectors such as water,
  economic development, finance and business
  development to facilitate womens access to other
  vital support services to ensure that their
  access to land is sustainable in the long term.
• In particular, municipalities have under their
  jurisdictions commonages which have not been
  fully utilized, let alone to benefit the poorest
  of the poor.

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THE ROLE OF OTHER RELEVANT INSTITUTIONS

• Equally institutions of Traditional Leadership in
  many communities across the country have an
  important role to play as they have under their
  jurisdictions large tracts of land which have not
  really benefitted women or women-headed
  households optimally in the past.
• The CGE also expects financial services
  institutions (like commercial banks) and private
  sector entities to play a key role in
  facilitating access to property/land and credit
  facilities and other financial services for women
  intending to enter into agribusiness/farming

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LESSONS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

• Experiences of farmers who became the
  beneficiaries of land reform initiatives in some
  African countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe
  identified a number of important lessons
• 1. Money, knowledge of farming and skills
  development for the new farmers are an important
  pre-requisite
• 2. The importance of developing a business plan
  for farming
• 3. Re-investment of the resources back into the
  farms
• 4. Importance of hard work and for the new
  farmers to live on their farms
• All these factors are important in terms of
  improving the prospects for the success of the
  new farmers

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USING THE LAND IN THE CONTEXT OF FARM WORKERS AND
FARM DWELLERS

• Farm workers and farm dwellers are one of the
  most oppressed and exploited sectors of our
  society, that could benefit handsomely from the
  implementation of One Woman/ One household, One
  Hectare of land.
• The State has so far used labour legislation,
  like the Labour Tenants Act and the Extension of
  Security and Tenure Act, but there has been no
  reciprocity on the part of farm owners. Instead
  they embarked on casualisation of labour, as well
  as externalisation of labour , through labour
  brokers.
• The time is ripe for government to use its muscle
  as did previous governments, by acquiring land on
  behalf of farm workers and farm dwellers .

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• CONCLUDING REMARKS
• As stated at the beginning, the intention of this
  presentation is to introduce the One Woman, One
  Hectare of Land, and its Objectives, to the
  Members of this Portfolio Committee to secure
  their support and assistance in realising the
  goal of gender equality in the allocation of
  land,
• Also, to obtain the support of the members in
  lobbying relevant government departments and
  state entities, including all spheres of
  government, to introduce the necessary policies
  and legislations to promote gender equality and
  womens rights in land allocations

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The End

• Every woman, in every village, in every hamlet,
  in every part of the country, who receives the
  allocation of land, will say
• This land you have given me is pleasant land.
  What a wonderful inheritance!
• THANK YOU!
• Commission For Gender Equality.

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Thank You

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