Intra-household gender relations and land claims : implications for the Land Administration and Management Program in the Philippines | |
| Author | Sumaylo, Kathlyn Kissy Haynes |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.GD-08-03 |
| Subject(s) | Land tenure--Philippines Women's rights--Philippines Women landowners--Philippines |
| Note | A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. GD-08-03 |
| Abstract | In the Philippines, the allocation and control of land have traditionally been tied to a male provider and producer. Today, however, women under study are making more claims and taking greater control of land under changing conditions of parental security, economy and demography. The challenge for the Philippine’s new land administration and titling program is to capture these trends in relation to women’s growing claims to land and to confront implicit assumptions of conventional notions of male control on land in implementation. The study therefore aims to understand household gender relations and land claims in a rural village in Leyte Province, where the government’s Land Administration and Management Program (LAMP) has created a pilot site. The research examined land allocation, claims and inheritance practices within parental and marital relations, focusing specifically on the role of inherited land in providing social security, creating enterprise and enhancing status of women after marriage. A survey with a sample of 40 households profiled landholdings and livelihoods of villagers, as well as their types of land tenure arrangements. Focus group discussions were organized to gather information on gender-specific land titling and land allocation practices, economic changes in the last decade, and the mobility of family members that impacted on their claims to land. Life histories of members of ten families were documented through in-depth interviews. Interviews with key informants yielded information on the LAMP project. Findings indicate that women continually pursue their land claims mediated largely by their positions within parental relations. As daughters who live within close proximity to parents, they claim land in order to provide informal social security to aging parents. As siblings, inherited land is a source of cooperation and shared responsibility on the one hand, and an object of conflict on the other; as wives, women’s control of inherited land enable them to contribute to household welfare, and enjoy greater parity in decision-making with their husbands. Women are active claim-makers to land, but they do so in nuanced ways vis-à-vis the source of power and authority in their families and depending on their locations within family and kinship relations. Land claims therefore go beyond the security that land titling provides, as they are about the maintenance of trust, reciprocity, obligations and social relations. |
| Year | 2008 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. GD-08-03 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Resurreccion, Bernadette; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Doneys, Philippe;Schmidt-Vogt, Dietrich; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | International Development Research Center, Canada (IDRC); |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2008 |