Women’s Land Rights in Mozambique

By Liazzat Bonate

I. Introduction

This paper attempts to shed the light on the situation of women with respect to land in Mozambique. The research was conceived within the framework of the project on Cultural Transformation in Africa and Human Rights Paradigm coordinated by Professor Abdullahi An-Na'im, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. The main objective of the project is to promote an empirically sound, yet visionary and dynamic understanding of the relationships between religion, law, and human rights in the context of cultural transformations in Africa. The working concept of the project takes a broad view of religion to include local/indigenous belief systems and customary practices, religious and customary law, as well as State civil law and enforcement institutions and processes in order to envision an innovative view on human rights which draws on local, cultural, and legal norms and institutions, and priorities set by locals.

The fieldwork research was conducted in the Nampula Province of northern Mozambique, where diverse, but relatively homogeneous, religious rural communities are found. One of the interesting features of this region is the prevalence of the matrilineality, particularly given gendered approaches of the research. The impact of modern State and associated institutions on women’s situations with regard to land are not easily perceptible because in rural Mozambique as elsewhere in Africa, women’s statuses and rights are linked to kinship and culture. Thus, the primary focus of the research was on women and land within kinship, family and community units. These units were drawn from three regions of Nampula Province: Muslims of Inguri bairro (zone) of the Angoche City, Catholics of the Anchilo Adminsitrative Post (Posto Adminstrativo) near provincial capital – Nampula City, and followers of indigenous beliefs of Corrane Administrative Post in Meconta District. A pilot study was conducted at the Muecate Adminsistrative Post in the District with the same name. Religious identity of the members of each of these communities is, of course, just one among multiple identities they hold, including ethnic ones. Communities were chosen through initial consultations with local and provincial administrative and religious leaders; however, collective and individual religious identities were later confirmed with the respondents themselves. In all regions, Makua language speakers and Makua ethnic identity predominated, except for Inguri where Koti language and identity prevailed.

The research focused on socio-cultural and legal contexts in which women establish and maintain their access to, useage, management and disposal of the land, while controlling resources, accessing and using benefits derived from land use, and also, on women’s participation in household decision-making. It also assessed the accessibility and the extent to which women benefit from legal norms and religio-cultural, economic, legal, and women-oriented institutions. The research used numerous primary and secondary data sources, including legal documents promulgated by the Portuguese colonial and post-colonial Mozambican State, historical and ethnographic material on customary and religious practices, and existing literature and reports of different entities. Primary data collection was undertaken through the study of court records and individual semi-structured interviews on key informants and also by administering 50 household questionnaires in each of the chosen study sites. Interviews were carried out with court and land registry officials, officers of the Ministry of Agriculture, Muslim religious dignitaries, church leaders, community chiefs, feminist and Human Rights activists, and members of various NGOs.

Gender issues were also addressed in participatory focus group discussions with homogeneous groups of local women and with mixed groups of local men and women.

I.1.Description of the Study Sites

According to the 1997 Second General Census of the Population [1], total population of Nampula Province is estimated at 2.975.747. The Census established that 1.139.564 people within this provincial population were Muslim, 808.875 were Catholic, and 320.388 were followers of other Christian sects, including African Christian Churches. 47.974 people of the Nampula Province were identified as Animists, which are followers of local indigenous African beliefs. Rural population is estimated 2.232.109.

Inguri, Angoche City, Angoche District
The district of Angoche has an estimated 114.607 inhabitants [2]. Population density of the District is relatively high, resulting in conflicts with respect to land and water[3]. Total area used by the family sector (household economy) for agriculture of the District is 66.467 ha, or 22%. The main economic activity of the District is agriculture. The basic alimentary cultures are cassava roots, groundnuts, maize, rice and beans. Main cash crops are cashew nuts, groundnuts, coconuts, rice and maize.

The population of the City of Angoche is estimated 88.716 people [4]. Of this, 23.270.000 inhabit a bairro (quarter) called Inguri. The majority of the Inguri inhabitants had came from the Koti Islands and claim Koti ethnic identity. According to local officials, more than 80% are Muslim [5]. Although Inguri is an urban area, the population has agricultural fields outside the city and are also involved in fishing to a great extent. Trade, crafts and industry are in decay as a result of the civil war and IFM and World Bank economic policies with directed at the production of cashew nuts.

Corrane Administrative Post, Meconta District
Total population of the Meconta District is estimated 123.097 at people [6]. The population density of the District is moderate in comparison to other regions of the Province[7]. The family sector (household economy) occupies 43.306 Ha of the land, approximately 11.6% [8]. Total population of the Corrane Administrative Post is estimated at 42.098 people[9].

The main economic activity is agriculture. Basic alimentary products cultivated by the family sector (household economy) are cassava, groundnuts, maize, beans, rice and yams. Cash crops are cashew nuts, groundnuts and cotton[10]. The tobacco cultivation is recent and limited. Although there are rivers, fishing is not considered important in the district, but domestic animals, such as chickens, pigs and goats are kept[11].

Anchilo Administrative Post, Nampula District
Total population of the Nampula District is estimated at 140.000[12], yet the population density is not elevated. The family sector (household economy) occupies about 40.023 Ha[13]. Main crops for household consumption are cassava, groundnuts, sorghum, maize, and rice. Cotton, sugar cane and cashew nuts are grown for commercial purposes[14].

Total population of Anchilo Administrative Post is estimated at 19.449 people[15]. Anchilo is a rural zone in the interior of the Province and is subject to great influence from the provincial capital situated 20 km away.

Muecate Administrative Post, Muecate District - Pilot Study
Total population of Muecate Adminsitrative Post was estimated at 77.906 in 1998[16]. 32517 hectares of land were being used for agriculture, mainly by the family sector (household economy) that produced maize, cassava, rice, beans, and groundnuts for household consumption. Cash crops are cotton, cashew trees, and sunflower.

I.2. Socio-demographic characteristics of the survey respondents

A total of 150 households had been surveyed in Anchilo, Inguri and Corrane. The age of women respondents ranged from 18 to 87. Literacy among women was low, while 50% have never attended any formal schooling and 50% had a basic primary education, in many cases not completed. In Inguri, 60% of the women have attended Qur'anic schools. 104 (70%) of the respondents were married, 46 women (30%) were widows and divorced. Of these, 22 (14%) were widows and 24 (16%) were divorced.

Among the married people, 60 (57%) constituted nuclear families comprised of husband, wives(s) and their own children, while 44 (43%) were living together with extended family members in the same household. 1 (4%) divorced woman and 3 (14%) widows were living on their own, while 23 (96%) divorced women and 19 (86%) widows were living with other family members, including children, children's families, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, uncles or parents, and sometimes kin of the deceased husband.

Among the forms of marriages, de facto unions predominated (47%), whereby a woman and a man started living together without preliminary completion of the ceremonies related to marriage. This form of marriage was the most common in Anchilo (78%), followed by Corrane (52%), and Inguri (10%). The second most widespread form of marriage among the respondents was Muslim (32.7%), 90% of which was found in Inguri, followed by Corrane and Anchilo (4% each); 6% of total marriages were Catholic.

The majority of interviewed people in Inguri (70%) stated that religion of the partner did matter, thus, they preferred marrying Muslims. The majority of the surveyed in Anchilo (100%) and Corrane (96%) said that it did not matter. Out of a total 104 marriages in the survey, 20 (19%) were polygamous. The most frequent number of wives in polygamous marriages was two (92%), followed by three wives (8%).

The average household farmland size was 1.7 Ha, ranging from 0.25 Ha to 30 Ha. The average size of the Koti was higher (2.6.Ha) than in Anchilo (1.3 Ha) and Corrane (1.2. Ha). The largest cash crop lands also belonged to the Koti (two plots - 200 Ha and 225 Ha).

In Muecate Administrative Post, a pilot study site, a total of 44 households were surveyed. Among them 28 (64%) were married, 7 (16%) were comprised of divorced women, and 9 (20%) were widows. 4 (14%) of the marriages were polygamous. Of the 28 married, 21 were composed of parents and their own children, and in 7 cases the family included other kin members residing all together. Two widows were living alone.

Contents | II. Historical and Ethnographic Background

1. II General Census of the Population and Houses, 1997. Nampula Province. Definitive Results. Maputo: National Institute of Statistics, July of 1999: 37, 45. Back
2. II General Census of the Population and Houses, 1997. Nampula Province. Definitive Results. Maputo: National Institute of Statistics, July of 1999: 4. Back
3. District Developments Profiles. Angoche District, Nampula Province. UNHCR/UNDP, Maputo, 1997: 4 Back
4. District Developments Profiles. Angoche District, Nampula Province. UNHCR/UNDP, Maputo, 1997: 3 Back
5. Interview with Mr Mohammad Hamid, responsible for the Unidade (Unit) 2 of Inguri. Back
6. II General Census of the Population and Houses, 1997. Nampula Province. Definitive Results. National Institute of Statistics. Maputo, July of 1999: 10. Back
7. District Developments Profiles. Meconta District. Nampula Province. UNHCR/UNDP, Maputo, 1997: 4. Back
8. Ibid. Back
9. II General Census of the Population and Houses, 1997. Nampula Province. Definitive Results. National Institute of Statistics. Maputo, July of 1999: 17. Back
10. District Developments Profiles. Meconta District, Nampula Province. UNHCR/UNDP, Maputo, 1997: 5. Back
11. District Developments Profiles. Meconta District, Nampula Province. UNHCR/UNDP, Maputo, 1997: 6. Back
12. District Developments Profiles. Nampula District, Nampula Province. UNHCR/UNDP, Maputo, 1997: 3. Back
13. Ibid. Back
14. Ibid.: 4-5. Back
15. II General Census of the Population and House, 1997. Nampula Province. Definitive Results. Maputo: National Institute of Statistics, July of 1999: 22. Back
16. Archives of the Posto Adminsitrativo, Muecate Administrative Post, Office of the Administrator Back