| dc.description.abstract | In most developing countries, land is the most essential resource for agricultural production. As
such, secure access, ownership and use of land leads to improved food security hence poverty
reduction especially in the rural areas. Much as it is imperative to note that a lot of ground has
been covered through affirmative action, the graph still remains skewed to the disadvantage of
women, especially in rural areas. Despite women being the main food producers for their
families, a majority of them still do not have secure access to, use and ownership of land. In
Kenya, the rights to property are guaranteed in law for both men and women. However, the
realization of this objective has not been optimized due to intersectional factors. And based on
the centrality of women in food production, rural areas like Kasipul continue to witness food
insecurity due to questions of rights to access, usage and disposal of land. This study has
therefore interrogated from a historical perspective, women‘s land rights and its impacts on food
production among the Luo of Kasipul from 1908 to 2012. The study accounted for British
colonial policies on women's land rights and food crop production among the Luo of Kasipul
from 1908 to 1963; evaluated the government's land policy for increased food production in
Kasipul after independence from a gendered perspective; and examined the implications of
constitutional reformsin Kenya on women‘s land rights in relation food production in Kasipul
from 2002 to 2012. The study was guided by Berman‘s (1984) articulation of modes of
production theory whose two main tenets are; forces of production defined as the modes of
appropriation of nature that encompasses all the resources used in production andsecondly,
relations of production which implies the way in which labour is organized and reproduced. The
study also adopted Intersectionalitytheory as proposed by Crenshaw (1989) and used the
simultaneity tenet to unpack the multilayered forms of gender inequality affecting women. The
study adopted descriptive research design. Through the use of the Purposive and Snowball
sampling techniques, a sample size of 40 respondents was determined. In-depth Interviews, Key
Informant Interviews and Focus Group Discussions as well as archival records were utilized to
gather primary data while desktop research was used to gather secondary data. The study then
utilized qualitative methods of data analysis to draw conclusions and used discussions approach
to present the findings.The study established that colonial policies on land, labor, and taxation
impacted on women‘s rights of ownership, usage and disposal of land which had a direct impact
on optimization of food production in Kasipul.Furthermore, the land tenure reforms initiated
soon after independence undermined the customary laws that had secured usufruct rights to land
by women. Men, who were regarded as the legitimate heads of households were registering land
in their names. In addition, the laws and policies passed by successive post-colonial governments
to promote women land rights were not put into practice fully. This happened despite the effort
to enable women, whether married or not, to access, own, utilize, and even inherit land. The
capacity of women to manage land in a way that would increase food production was hampered
by the lack of security around their land ownership and use. Finally the studydemonstratedthat
Kenya's 2010 constitutional proclamation furthered the advancement of women's land rights.
However, this did not bridge the gap for most women, especially those in rural areas who
continue to grapple with multilayered obstacles to full realization of their rights to land. The
study therefore recommended that state and non-state actors should partner in the sensitization of
women on the provisions of the law that guarantees those rights to land. | en_US |
