Women's access to land and household bargaining power

Acknowledgements
This action research is the result of a continuous participa-
tory process involving different people. It would have been
a failure had it not been for the support from the people of
Zomba and Mzimba districts, specifically, the people of Sub
TA Nkagula in the villages of Disi, Chilimani and Nkagula in
Zomba and those from Traditional Authority Mzukuzuku, in
the villages of Labani Chirwa, Mtezi Mithi, Zibande Ngwata
and Joseph Mumba in Mzimba.
Sub TA Nkagula, in Zomba, Traditional Authorities Mzukuzu-
ku and Mbelwa in Mzimba played a critical role in the provi-
sion of the data presented here. All the village headmen and
headwomen in the villages the research was carried out in
are acknowledged for their cooperation. Community mem-
bers from the two research sites deserve a vote of thanks for
their cooperation, fruitful participation and commitment to
the action research.
We also acknowledge contributions from the two districts’
department of lands. The agriculture personnel at Mbawa
Research Training Centre, in Mzimba, also deserve a mention
for their input and participation in the project.
About the researchers
The Malawi research team composed of Maggie Kathewera
Banda, a social scientist and a gender expert, currently the
Executive Director of Women’s Legal Resources Centre, Veronica
Kamanga – Njikho, a gender and development expert
working for UNFPA, Grace Malera, a human rights lawyer
working for Malawi Law Commission, Martino Kamwano
Mazinga, a cultural theorist and social worker, Steven Ndhlovu
a trained secondary school teacher and a renowned
playwright and Gift Mauluka, also a trained secondary school
teacher and a vibrant social worker with expertise in theatre
for development.
Women’s Legal Resources Centre
(WOLREC)
WOLREC is a women’s rights non-governmental organization
based in Blantyre in Eber House near Limbe Cathedral.
WOLREC was registered under the Trustees Incorporation
Act in 2006. WOLREC’s Mission is to promote and safeguard
increased access to justice for women and girls in Malawi.
WOLREC has conceptualized access to justice from three
angles, namely legal, socio-political and economic justice.
For legal justice, WOLREC looks at using the law in order for
women to get the required justice. In terms of social justice,
WOLREC addresses the problems that women encounter in
their social and gender relations, for example gender based
violence. Lastly, in terms of economic justice, WOLREC recognizes
that sometimes women remain in abusive social
relations due to poverty and reliance on the abuser for economic
support. Considering that women’s access to land is
increasingly becoming a topical issue and that many women
are subjected to land rights abuses, WOLREC, as part of a
collaborative project entitled “Securing Women’s Access to
Land: Linking Research and Action”, coordinated in Southern
Africa by the International Land Coalition (ILC) and the
Institute for Poverty, Land And Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) –
University of Western Cape in South Africa has conducted
comparative action research on women’s access to land and
their household bargaining power. The action research aims
to provide WOLREC and other interested stakeholders, both
at community and policy level, with evidence based data, to
inform action around guaranteeing women’s access to land
and consequently to improve their bargaining power.