Land Reform: The Solution or the Problem?

In: Human rights quarterly: a comparative and international journal of the social sciences, humanities, and law, Band 3, Heft 2, S. 96-102

Abstract

Land reform is often advocated as a solution to problems of inequality in Third World countries. However, systems of land reform characteristically work against matrilineal systems & systems of co-ownership, even though these systems may be more favorable to land utilization & human needs than the ownership by individual Ms favored by development projects. This is illustrated through a case study of the Lilongwe Land Development Program in Malawi, which failed through its disregard for the traditional rights of women. Similar problems exist in many other countries in the Third World. Land reform should be opposed until it is given a form that does not threaten women's rights. W. H. Stoddard.