Women, Descent, and Tenure Succession among the Bambara of West Africa: A Changing Landscape

Abstract

This article describes the impact of land tenure changes that negatively effect womens access to land for subsistence farming. The framework for describing changes in Mali has emphasized shifts from communal to more individualized tenure and commercialized agricultural practices. It is argued that this emphasis obscures the displacement of farming and loss of greater access to a broad range of resources for women. Data are obtained from interviews collected over a six-month period during the early 1990s in rural Mali. It is posited that womens limited access to land hinders womens potential to contribute to development. Patrilineal descent and patrilocal residence patterns limit womens access to land. Land constraints of women are viewed as only partially related to gender-biased development interventions and the closing of traditional land tenure arrangements. This study focuses on the Bambara a Mande speaking ethnic group that is dependent on cereal crop production. Women share cooking and fuelwood responsibilities and thus have more time for small-scale market activity or work related to land-based resources. One manifestation of changes is the decline in patrilineal control over land use and access but little change is manifested in transfers of land. The shift to commercialization and individualization and the reduction in bush fallow land means increased open access and increased competition for alternative sources of fuelwood and income-producing forest products. It is suggested that planning must identify spatial and organization openings that accommodate women and increase their potential to contribute to development. Women in Bambara villages have successfully exploited social groups as the locus for gaining access to land for collective crop and garden production. It is suggested that future studies examine stratification of land based on gender and class factors.