City Press, 17 August 1997, Tumo Mukone:
Women, land and authority is the result of researches done by women of the Gender Task Group of the National Land Committee. According to the authors, the task group’s agenda is to give a blueprint for policy makers, academicsand activists of women’s rights in land issues. Through case studies, the book’s articles take a close look at laws – formal or informal – and traditional practices that govern women’s access to land.
The resulting picture is bleak: women in rural communities are systematically excluded from owning land. Inheritance practices, affordability and the chief’s whims all favour men owning land. A widow also stands a very real chance of losing her husband’s land to a male claimant – usually a male relative or the chief …
Women, land and authority deserves applause in its effort to place the issue of women’s access to and control over land and related resources on the national agenda.