Abstract:
Land redistribution is one of the three components of the national land reform
programme carried out by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform
in South Africa. Its aim is to redistribute land to the landless poor, farm workers and
upcoming farmers mainly for residential and commercial uses with a view to
improving livelihoods and their quality of life (DLA, 1997; Bradstock, 2005). A
gender policy that indicates how women should access and benefit from the land
redistribution programme (DLA, 1997) was developed to facilitate the land
redistribution process. This research takes the form of a case study and explores
how these gender considerations were implemented as well as the lived realities on
a redistributed farm.
The research seeks to understand gender dynamics in decision-making and
resource allocation on a redistributed farm. The extent to which roles and
relationships, division of labour and power relations have changed as beneficiaries
take on the responsibility of managing the farm with a view to enhancing their
livelihood strategy is explored. Results suggest the gender policy has not
adequately addressed the issues around equity with gendered power relations and
division of labour evident.
