Land Tenure, Gender and Food Security in Zimbabwe

This study investigates the relationship between land tenure, gender and food security in Save Communal Area in Chiredzi District of Zimbabwe. The goal of the study was to find if culture and gender inequalities in land rights affect women’s potential to produce and contribute to the welfare of their households. A lot of research was done which found that women’s limited rights in land affect their contribution. This study found that women access land in the communal areas through their relationships with men as wives, daughters and sis ters, whilst men’s access depended upon marriage. It also found that many people in the communal areas have access to land, including women; however the security of their rights was also influenced by their marital status. The high rate of access to land by both men and women was credited to the flexibility of customary law to accommodate many people through allowing the subdivision of land to household members. Results of this study show that women’s inheritance rights to both land and property are very limited, and men are considered the heirs..