The laws such as access to landownership

The reduction of inequalities between women and men through gendered development projects thataims to empower women is essential for poverty alleviation and a more feminist and democraticstate. Therefore, institutions play a central role in targeting these inequalities and moreover, they areresponsible for the development outcomes (Branisa and Klansen, 2013: 252), hence, the enrolmentof women in formal political institutions is seen as a key to engender democracy (Cornwall andGoetz, 2006: 783). Women’s participation as well as representation in formal institutions havesubstantially increased around the world, yet governments’ laws such as access to landownership 7still hinder women’s empowerment (Landesa: 2017) and contribute to women’s subordination, poverty and inequality (Deere, 2017).

Ownership of land is vital for strengthening women’s agency, however patriarchal societies have ignored this issue and in many cases, local institutions havecreated barriers for women to own land (Landesa: 2017). Access to equal land rights is a need in various developing countries since gender equity inland tenure is essential for achieving the SDGs, promoting gender equality, empowering womenand eradicating poverty (FAO, 2013: 5). Yet, concerns related to gender are little discussed withinland reforms policies and women are generally excluded (Jacobs, 2003).

Feminism often points outthe existence of a gendered structural biases in democracies and suggest that it is necessary toaddress all forms of structural inequalities to build a genuine democracy (Grugel and Bishop, 2014: 38). Existing literature suggest that there is a strong relationship between social institutionsand gender inequality. For instance, Branisa and Klansen (2013: 254) relates social institutions suchas values, traditions, customs, informal and formal laws as responsible to frame gender roles and thedistribution of power between women and men in the social, political and economic life. Similarly, Jacobs (2003: 212) notes that “ gender relations and women’s social position lie at the heart of mostrural communities.” The political approach of democracy stresses on the importance of respecting basic politicaland civil rights to ensure a more democratic process.

On the contrary, the development approachsuggest that democracy should focus on socioeconomic concerns such as equality, welfare andjustice (Carothers, 2009). In light of this, it is noted that the political approach on land distributiondoes not fulfil the needs of all citizens since it does not respect the civil rights of women to own andto make use of land in many developing countries and therefore, a more gendered inclusivedevelopmental approach is necessary. Nonetheless, customary laws and forms of governance rootedin patriarchal societies represent a barrier to any possible gains for women, and are unable toprovide any forms of socially driven governance (Taylor: 2007: 29). For instance, Naybor (2014)notes that women movements in Uganda have pressured the government to have a more inclusivegendered constitution regarding women’s ownership of land. However, despite the gains in theconstitution to protect women’s rights, there is a lack of enforcement and support from localinstitutions ruled by laws based on customs and traditions that subordinates the role of women.