Securing Tenure for Sustainable Livelihoods: A Case of Women Land Ownership in Anglophone Cameroon

摘要

The majority of women in Third World countries depend on land for their livelihood.Security of tenure is important for them to ensure sustainable development, especially inrural areas. In most parts of Africa, land ownership is affected by traditional values,inheritance rights, and government influence. These forces have provided varying types oftenure which are detrimental to the women in rural and urban areas. Land acquisition and itsdevelopment has been an emotive issue due to traditional pressures and the law as regardsthe process of land certification. The government and traditional administrations are highlyinvolved in the way women own land and subsequently develop it in Anglophone Cameroon.State authority over land acquisition is important, but the process for obtaining land title isherculean especially for the rural woman. This study illustrates that land acquisition anddevelopment by women constitute a problem because of traditional pressures and the lawguiding the process of land certification. There is need to exhume the barriers ofgovernment’s legal instrument (The Land Consultative Board) that regulates the ownershipof land and to revisit some traditional practices as regards land ownership that impactnegatively on women in a changing and globalizing world. A compromise approach isadvocated for land acquisition that can transcend traditional barriers as well as render theprocess of land registration more realistic especially for women.