Women’s land rights and customary law reform in South Africa: Towards a gendered perspective

For obvious reasons, land is arguably the most contentious subject in South Africa today. Racially discriminatory laws under apartheid ensured that a disproportionately large size of the total land in the country is concentrated in the hands of White minority while the majority of Blacks struggle to access land. The negative consequences of this history currently manifests in evictions, homelessness, pervasive unemployment amongst Blacks and entrenched poverty. After the transition to multiracial democracy in 1994, government immediately took steps to address this problem but the land reforms processes so far have been slow and the majority of landless Blacks are increasingly impatient. Proponents of appropriation of land without compensation are becoming more vocal. The land question therefore permeates all aspects of social, economic and political discourse in South Africa and the government faces the challenge to initiate land reform policies that reflect the socio-economic realities and at the same time survive tests of constitutionality. One such challenge is how to give meaning to the constitutional rights guaranteed to women in respect of access to land on the basis of equality.