Unbundling water and land rights in Kilifi County, Kenya: a gender perspective

Feminist scholars and activists have drawn attention to the importance of women’s land rights, and studies focused on irrigation have explored the gendered relationships between land and water rights. Yet little of this work has focused on the relationship between land and water rights for domest...

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Autores principales: Hillesland, Marya, Doss, Cheryl R., Mutua, Mercy, Guettou Djurfeldt, Nadia, Nchanji, Eileen, Twyman, Jennifer, Korzenevica, Marina
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Frontiers Media 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132404
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author Hillesland, Marya
Doss, Cheryl R.
Mutua, Mercy
Guettou Djurfeldt, Nadia
Nchanji, Eileen
Twyman, Jennifer
Korzenevica, Marina
author_browse Doss, Cheryl R.
Guettou Djurfeldt, Nadia
Hillesland, Marya
Korzenevica, Marina
Mutua, Mercy
Nchanji, Eileen
Twyman, Jennifer
author_facet Hillesland, Marya
Doss, Cheryl R.
Mutua, Mercy
Guettou Djurfeldt, Nadia
Nchanji, Eileen
Twyman, Jennifer
Korzenevica, Marina
author_sort Hillesland, Marya
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Feminist scholars and activists have drawn attention to the importance of women’s land rights, and studies focused on irrigation have explored the gendered relationships between land and water rights. Yet little of this work has focused on the relationship between land and water rights for domestic and productive purposesmore broadly.Within rural communities, women andmen have di􀀀erent rights to both land and water.We explore these interconnected relationships using community profiles, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews from two communities as well as survey data collected from multiple adult members of rural households in Kilifi County, Kenya. Using a bundle of rights framework, we find that few individuals hold the complete bundle of rights over water, and the extent to which the rights are acknowledged by others and enforceable varies by the land-water tenure system. The full bundle of rights to water ismost likely to be complete and most robust for men who have private water points on household land they hold. Even then, other people may assert claims to water at the water point, although these claims may involve negotiation or payment. Many water rights across the land-tenure systems are shared with others rather than being held by one individual. As such, the ability to negotiate water access is particularly important. The duration of the rights, or the length of time for which the rights are held, is embedded in social relations and exchange, particularly on others’ household land. Women more than men seem to maintain a complicated set of social networks that allow them to negotiate for water from other women who manage the water transactions. The process of negotiation needs to be re-articulated each time. Thus, the duration of these rights to water depends on the ongoing relationships.
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spelling CGSpace1324042025-12-08T10:29:22Z Unbundling water and land rights in Kilifi County, Kenya: a gender perspective Hillesland, Marya Doss, Cheryl R. Mutua, Mercy Guettou Djurfeldt, Nadia Nchanji, Eileen Twyman, Jennifer Korzenevica, Marina gender land rights land tenure gender analysis water rights legal pluralism Feminist scholars and activists have drawn attention to the importance of women’s land rights, and studies focused on irrigation have explored the gendered relationships between land and water rights. Yet little of this work has focused on the relationship between land and water rights for domestic and productive purposesmore broadly.Within rural communities, women andmen have di􀀀erent rights to both land and water.We explore these interconnected relationships using community profiles, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews from two communities as well as survey data collected from multiple adult members of rural households in Kilifi County, Kenya. Using a bundle of rights framework, we find that few individuals hold the complete bundle of rights over water, and the extent to which the rights are acknowledged by others and enforceable varies by the land-water tenure system. The full bundle of rights to water ismost likely to be complete and most robust for men who have private water points on household land they hold. Even then, other people may assert claims to water at the water point, although these claims may involve negotiation or payment. Many water rights across the land-tenure systems are shared with others rather than being held by one individual. As such, the ability to negotiate water access is particularly important. The duration of the rights, or the length of time for which the rights are held, is embedded in social relations and exchange, particularly on others’ household land. Women more than men seem to maintain a complicated set of social networks that allow them to negotiate for water from other women who manage the water transactions. The process of negotiation needs to be re-articulated each time. Thus, the duration of these rights to water depends on the ongoing relationships. 2023-10-19 2023-10-24T13:15:55Z 2023-10-24T13:15:55Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132404 en Open Access application/pdf Frontiers Media Hillesland, M.; Doss, C.R.; Mutua, M.; Guettou Djurfeldt, N.; Nchanji, E.; Twyman, J.; Korzenevica, M. (2023) Unbundling water and land rights in Kilifi County, Kenya: a gender perspective. Frontiers in Human Dynamics 5: 1210065. ISSN: 2673-2726
spellingShingle gender
land rights
land tenure
gender analysis
water rights
legal pluralism
Hillesland, Marya
Doss, Cheryl R.
Mutua, Mercy
Guettou Djurfeldt, Nadia
Nchanji, Eileen
Twyman, Jennifer
Korzenevica, Marina
Unbundling water and land rights in Kilifi County, Kenya: a gender perspective
title Unbundling water and land rights in Kilifi County, Kenya: a gender perspective
title_full Unbundling water and land rights in Kilifi County, Kenya: a gender perspective
title_fullStr Unbundling water and land rights in Kilifi County, Kenya: a gender perspective
title_full_unstemmed Unbundling water and land rights in Kilifi County, Kenya: a gender perspective
title_short Unbundling water and land rights in Kilifi County, Kenya: a gender perspective
title_sort unbundling water and land rights in kilifi county kenya a gender perspective
topic gender
land rights
land tenure
gender analysis
water rights
legal pluralism
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/132404
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