Short documentary film: Gender, access to land and land policies in Madagascar.

Based on the case of Madagascar, the film reviews the main findings and debates on access to land in Africa. It places the question of gender at the heart of the film, particularly the role of women in the management and appropriation of agricultural land.
The literature indicates that in Africa, despite strong regional disparities, women’s access to land is generally less favourable than that of men (Doss et al. 2015, Chigbu 2019). Although women are important land users, the areas they control are often smaller, and their land rights may be less extensive, less secure and subordinate to men’s authority. Until the 2000s, land policies rarely took into account exclusionary effects, and paid even less attention to gender issues (Razavi, 2007). Agricultural land titling policies have sometimes undermined women’s rights (Lastarria-Cornhiel, 1997).
More recent land policies - mainly policies to formalise rights - have included measures to include women, by issuing certificates in their own names and/or in the names of spouses (Abbott et al., 2018; Melesse et al., 2018). Between unfulfilled implementation, ignorance and circumvention of these measures, the effects in terms of securing women’s rights are mixed and controversial (Abbott et al., 2018; Holden et al., 2011; Bezabih and Holden, 2006; Muchomba, 2017).
In Madagascar, we will address these issues from three perspectives. First, in the context of the current land reform, women can theoretically obtain land certificates in their own names and/or in the names of spouses, yet land remains predominantly certified in the names of men (Burnod et al., 2014). Moreover, national law defends equal inheritance between children, regardless of their gender, but in practice, customary practices and rules favour sons to inherit land (Di Roberto 2020). Finally, while markets are now active in many parts of the country (Burnod et al., 2014; Rakotomalala et al., 2019; Di Roberto, 2020), the question arises of the conditions for women’s participation in these markets.
In summary, the project addresses the links between women and land through several lines of questioning. What role do women play in Malagasy farms and land management? Can women effectively access agricultural land (via purchase and/or inheritance) and secure their land rights? What role does the land reform underway since 2005 actually play in this regard?