Land conflict through a gender lens

This section analyses eight case studies in six countries – Bangladesh, India, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria and Peru – spanning the Africa, Asia and Latin America regions, and focuses on the gender dimensions of conflict across three main themes:

• Conflict driven by extractivism and land grabbing
• Conflict driven by climate change migration
• Intra- and inter-community conflict

The paper is structured into three parts: an overview, a detailed analysis for each topic and recommendations for improving conditions from a gender perspective as marginalised groups make steady progress towards claiming their rights to collectively held lands. As people gain a more equal role in their communities when it comes to governance and decision-making over land, those communities where they are actively involved enjoy a greater level of peace.

Land is a source of power, livelihood, identity and community – all of which have gender dimensions. Control of and access to land typically reflect the power relationships in a society. Those people with greater power, such as community or religious leaders, usually determine how land is used and shared. On the other hand, those with relatively little power, often women and minority groups, can be particularly vulnerable in terms of access to and control of land. Inheritance customs and laws may bar women from owning or controlling land altogether, or they are entitled to less land than male family members. The lack of legal ownership of land has further consequences for women. Without a land title, long-term investment in land is risky, since they could lose possession of it at any time. And without land to offer as collateral, banks are unwilling to lend to women who would otherwise qualify for loans.

About 40 percent of conflicts in the world are at least partly driven by disputes over land and/or natural resources (World Bank, 2022). Gender inequalities and gender norms influence how these conflicts play out, directly and indirectly. Sometimes, women can be directly involved as active combatants in a full-scale, violent conflict. For example, women fought in the civil war in Nepal in the mid-1990s, a conflict driven by political and socioeconomic marginalisation, including the lack of access to land by rural people (Shahu, 2013).

More often, women are involved indirectly – as providers of aid and support, or they stay behind to care for their families and households. In rare cases, the new circumstances can bring improvements to women’s status, as they develop new skills or gain access to and control over economic assets. For instance, some women may plant cash crops or start small businesses to survive during the conflict. More often, however, the women who stay behind face increased vulnerability. Women- and child-headed households often lose access to land and other natural resources they relied upon before the conflict, either because of the death of male family members or the disintegration of community frameworks that traditionally governed land access and use in their areas (Jensen et al., 2013). Women who are forced to migrate across borders or who remain internally displaced face a very high risk for exploitation and gender-based violence (Norwegian Refugee Council, 2014). They may end up isolated and vulnerable in their new host areas due to restrictive gender and land ownership norms, and they often have difficulty accessing and navigating regulatory processes governing land access.

However, women are not just combatants or victims. They also play important roles in resolving land conflicts. Women and women's organisations have deep knowledge of their territories and communities; they can help ensure the protection and recognition of land tenure and use rights in order to build peace and preserve it (Razek et al., 2021). One study found that ensuring women's rights to land and resources and empowering them to participate in decision-making helps create more stable and peaceful environments (Razek et al., 2021). For example, women were actively involved in ending the 10-year conflict in Papua New Guinea between the government and rebels, which was triggered by grievances related to copper mining concessions and land. Although women had become marginalised at the political level, they were traditionally the land custodians in the predominantly matrilineal clans. Leveraging their position to push for peace, women spearheaded local and national peace talks and took an active part in peacebuilding, in the process advocating for their greater inclusion in political decision-making (Jensen & Halle, 2013, ). While this case is an outlier because women did already have a role in land access and use, the example nonetheless suggests much different outcomes are possible when women are included. The case studies that follow were compiled by members of the ILC Gender Experts Network, drawn from ILC's membership. Their topics and authors were selected based on the commitment, knowledge and specific experience of the Network's members.

Conflict driven by extractivism and land grabbing:

Madagascar and Malawi

Two of the case studies are about extractives-driven conflict. One is in Malawi, where legal and illegal mining in the northern Mzimba District has caused environmental degradation and land conflict disproportionately impacting women. The other is in Madagascar’s Anosy Region, where community lands have been expropriated for large-scale open-pit mining, including lands controlled by women, without their participation in decision-making.

Conflict driven by climate change migration

India, Madagascar and Nigeria

Three case studies relate to climate migration. The first is in India’s Bhadohi District in Uttar Pradesh, where sudden shifts from drought to torrential floods, driven by the monsoon and glacial melt, have repeatedly destroyed harvests. This has spurred migration and negatively impacted women, whether they choose to migrate or remain in their places of origin. The second concerns Madagascar’s Menabe Region, where migration from the drought-devastated southern part of the country has created social tensions with local communities. A migrant land reserve (Bezeky) was created to help ease tensions; however, because of persisting customary patriarchal norms, migrant women were not properly included in the decision-making processes, despite specific rules put in place requiring their inclusion. The third case study involves Nigeria’s Benue State, where drought and desertification are exacerbating farmer-herder conflict. Women are affected disproportionately by the resulting loss of land access and economic disempowerment, and must endure a sharp rise in gender-based violence.

Intra- and inter-community conflict

Bangladesh, India and Peru

Three case studies illustrate the third type of conflict: intra- and inter-communal conflict. Two involve intra-communal conflict, one in Bangladesh and the other in India. The Bangladesh case study covers two districts, Bagerhat District in the southwestern part of the country, and Dinajpur District in the northwest. Both reveal a pattern of women being dispossessed and denied their inheritance claims, as well as disputes over the theft of land owned by women in the course of what are promoted as land acquisitions for industrial development.

The second example, in India’s East Singhbhum District in Jharkhand, follows a similar pattern, with customary laws disadvantaging women in land ownership, inheritance and resource distribution. Again, women who seek to defend their rights face ostracism, intimidation and violence.

Meanwhile, the third example, from Peru, illustrates inter-communal conflict. It involves two sets of communities in the Peruvian Andes’ Huamanga and Vilcashuamán provinces that are embroiled in boundary disputes over competing historical land claims. This case study highlights the crucial roles women have played in averting violence and resolving the conflict.

Extreme social inequalities with limited, opaque access and control over resources, namely forests, land and water, define the contexts of the countries analysed. The resources situation has continued to deteriorate for years, rather than improving. The two main drivers of land grabs are agribusiness and mining, but mega-infrastructure projects and ecotourism, often driven by inscrutable investment structures, also account for a large proportion of large-scale land acquisitions. For example, according to the Land Matrix Initiative, seven large-scale land acquisitions covering 28,034 hectares are active in Malawi, while in Madagascar, there are 13 land deals covering 592,885 hectares. Therefore, land grabbing remains a major evolving threat in these countries, accounting for a large part of a broader set of pressures that are forcing farmers and communities off their land. Small/marginal landholders’ livelihoods (especially women’s) have been critically weakened, and the powerful agrifood sector has tightened its grip on food systems and farmland.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s FAOSTAT data on gender, women account for 42 percent of the global agrifood systems workforce (1.37 billion people), a share that has remained largely unchanged since 2000. However, women face persistent gaps in access to land, credit, water and technology. In 85 percent of countries where data is available, women have lower ownership and/or insecure tenure compared with men over agricultural land. Patriarchal laws and conditioned social norms limit women’s opportunities, despite the fact that in rural areas women account for some 40 percent of work force participation in agricultural value chains (Observer Research Foundation 2025).

In the case studies analysed, traditional community and religious institutions, including local and state administrations, have perpetuated unequal treatment within communities, particularly related to women. The formal designation of land has been influenced by village headmen and local-level administrations and laws, which differ from region to region. The countries also have very weak systems of land registration, especially Madagascar and Malawi, where control and use of land mirrors traditional distinctions among ethnic groups and related power dynamics. Thus, tensions over control over land have erupted into complex conflicts involving different ethnic groups, local communities, state authorities and private interests, including huge corporate entities, resulting in the forced displacement of people from their native or inherited lands.

With few exceptions, women have rights to less land than men and to land of lower quality. Of formal land titles registered in Madagascar, less than 10 percent are held by women (World Bank, 2021). In Malawi, the case study notes women own less than 15 percent of land, while most people in Malawi (upwards of 90 percent) lack formal land titles. Thus men are more likely to hold formal land titles. Women are often unable to acquire or exercise the same rights as men in the same context, their rights are less secure and it is harder for them to protect their rights when they are under threat from deep patriarchal structures that control women’s autonomy.

Even though some laws do exist to protect women’s land rights, in practice few women formally own land and even fewer control it. For example, in Madagascar’s Miadanandrian Region, out of 59 titles issued by the Communal Land Office (the bureau de la propriété foncière or BIF from the Malagasy, birao ifoton’ny fananan-tany) only eight were granted to women. Just one of those women represented a minority ethnic group, with the remaining seven land titles being issued to women from the elite economic class. These patterns of inequality and skewed power relations in land ownership affect women’s ability to convert the benefits derived from land into economic and socio-cultural well-being. According to Madagascar’s civil code, women can sell, acquire and inherit land; however, customary practices mean men ultimately govern, influence and control all ownership. Women are consciously excluded from access to resources, socially and economically deprived of what should be equal rights and equal opportunity. With the incidence of land grabs spiking, women suffer greater harms in terms of being forced off their land, leading to displacement and economic vulnerability.

Land is a social asset that is crucial for cultural identity, political power and participation in decision-making. Women’s ownership of property and control over resources strengthen their negotiating power and autnomy by reducing vulnerability. However, the deep-rooted patriarchal prejudices combined with cultural and gender stereotypes reinforce historical gender discrimination, depriving women of that agency. For instance, in Peru, women have succeeded in accessing leadership roles in agriculture and in their communities, yet women continue to be omitted from political discourse and decision-making. In fact, the public and private patriarchal structures have reacted with smear campaigns against women leaders, peasants and farmers who call into question the status quo. By depriving women and other vulnerable groups of their equal rights and keeping them on the margins of society, they are essentially rendered perpetually resourceless.

The current state of affairs when it comes to climate change seems to be limited to discussions and events, rather than putting in place robust country-level climate action plans and implementing those. Regardless, already vulnerable people have been severely affected by prolonged dry periods and/or intense rainfall events, which threaten livelihoods and lives. In resource-poor contexts, there is also a lack of basic services and infrastructure to respond, driving internal and cross-border migration and displacement. Such situations can be manipulated to stoke ethnic clashes by state and non-state actors. In the Nigerian example, there is evidence of a direct correlation between violence, impunity and control over natural resources.

Women particularly, have different needs and priorities and face diverse risks shaped by intersecting forms of discrimination and denial to resources. However, climate shocks are disproportionately shattering women and girls' aspirations due to several inter-connected factors (education, health, exposure to violence, employment, assets creation and livelihoods). Looking at climate change through the lens of intersectionality, the forms of inequalities merge, overlapping and aggravating each other in the context of specific norms and traditions.

In 2016, a UN Women report noted that due to the adverse impacts of climate change, the analysis of the gendered dimensions of migration and displacement flows across and within borders reveals that a double injustice is experienced particularly by women and girls, persons with disabilities, elderly and LGBTQI+ people, worsening gender inequality (UN WOMEN, 2016; Otzelberger, 2014). A report launched at COP28 by UN Women suggests that by 2050, climate change may push up to 158 million more women and girls into poverty, and cause 236 million to face food insecurity. Extreme weather conditions such as storms, floods or heat are on the rise, forcing millions of people to leave their homes worldwide (UN Women, 2023).

According to figures cited by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR, 2022) citing a previous UNEP report, (United Nations Environment Programme, 2016) women and girls are estimated to make up the vast majority – often cited as up to 80 percent – of people displaced by climate change, leaving them disproportionately exposed to risks of poverty, gender-based violence and a lack of reproductive healthcare during migration to safer locations.

The analysis demonstrates that the impacts of climate aftershocks vary by region and community; variations also occur in rural and urban areas. The limited resources particularly in rural areas, such as productive land, forest and water, are often decimated, which in turn amplifies existing gender inequalities. The papers underline two parallels on ownership of resources: in Nigeria, pastoral men own the most profitable livestock and productive lands, and in the case of Madagascar, men control cattle and land, while women control and manage poultries. In both countries, women’s role and gender relations are clearly reflected in terms of who owns what.

Moreover, gender inequalities in asset ownership are passed down through generations: initial wealth benefits men far more than women, as pertains to land inheritance, livestock and livestock acquisition.

Male control over resources mirrors power relations that are exacerbated by climate change. Masculinity also has a strong correlation to livelihood, risk exposure and adoption, compared with the relatively weak adaptive capacity of diverse individuals and marginalised groups. The environmental impacts worsen tensions and increase instances of abuse with impunity of dominant groups against minority groups, increase inter-religious conflicts and clashes over land between pastoralists and more settled farmers and herders, spark increased cattle rustling and can also impact women’s lives when mass violence erupts, such as in the example from Nigeria. In Madagascar, only men can migrate alone, and it’s seen as particularly masculine to migrate in search of work, so often men migrate within the country and across borders for agricultural employment and other labour opportunities, leaving women, children, the elderly and other vulnerable people behind.

In Nigeria, given the unequal access to resources and information based on gender, complicated further by identifying factors such as ethnic origin, there are varying degrees of vulnerability to climate change impacts. Gender plays out differently depending on local cultural norms, including gender roles, age, class, ethnicity and the conflict situation and context (control over resources by state and non-state actors). Therefore, to assess the potential impact of climate change and conflict situations on migration and displacement patterns, it is first required to understand the gendered aspects of landholding and ownership during crises. Also, the nexus of conflict-climate change-migration in countries of origin requires further investigation into conflicts over natural resources among local communities, to be able to rethink pathways towards resilience, climate security and peaceful societies.

Gender-based violence (GBV) has emerged as a concern in all three case studies: women, elderly, girls, children and persons with disabilities all face some form of violence and abuse, during or in the aftermath of a disaster. Migrants and displaced people face more severe forms of bodily abuses, including by their own intimate partners.

There is a growing body of research that seeks to unpack the ambiguous relationship between women’s land ownership and gender-based violence. A cross-reading of all the case studies suggests that women’s land ownership by itself does not reduce gender-based violence, but instead GBV is likely reduced indirectly by increasing women’s economic empowerment and bargaining power, increasing their knowledge and self-esteem, supporting their freedom of movement and market access and by bettering women’s social position by recognizing their agency and inherent rights and freedom. Women are increasingly successful at navigating through conflict and gaining more control of resources, such as productive land to support their livelihoods and income. However, men typically view women’s economic empowerment and increased wealth as a threat to their own masculinity and power. This tension and the asymmetric power relations result in increased violence and abuse against women to curtail their economic autonomy. Women and girls experience higher levels of intimate partner violence in sub-Saharan African countries, and in the worst-case climate models where temperatures rise by 4°C, cases of GBV are projected to nearly triple from 48 million in 2015 to 140 million in 2060 due to climate crises, shocks and displacement, according to one study by UNFPA (2024).

Intra- and inter-community conflicts are some of the most intractable types of land conflicts experienced by women. This summary will delve into key aspects discussed in the case studies: the nature and dynamics of the conflict, its root causes, the impacts on women and current conflict resolution efforts.

Conflict dynamics.

The two sets of communities are embroiled in long-running boundary disputes based on historical land claims. Totorabamba, Huancapuquio and Pomacocha base their land claims on national agrarian land distribution and land titling programmes, while Ocollo claims the area as ancestral land. The disputes are marked by harassment and physical violence, with the bigger communities (Ocollo and Pomacocha) often instigating the incidents. These incidents range from indirect confrontations such as surreptitiously removing boundary stones and erecting structures overnight in the contested area (e.g., a chapel) to violent attacks with sticks and stones by members of one community against the other. In one particularly violent attack, several thousand residents of Pomacocha and neighbouring communities raided Huancapuquio, burning the community school and several houses, stealing tools and animals and beating many of Huancapuquio’s residents, which numbered just over 200. The attack made the national news and prompted an investigation by the government.

The communities in both cases pursued administrative and legal remedies to clarify ownership of the contested land and stop the violence. The decision upheld the land rights claims of Totorabamba and Huancapuquio. However, the non-prevailing parties (Ocollo and Pomacocha) have refused to abide by the government decision. So the conflict persists although the violence has somewhat subsided.

Causes of conflict.

A major cause of the dispute in the two cases is conflicting and contradictory land titles. All four communities have a claim of title derived from the state, obtained at different times under different land programmes and from different state agencies. By and large, the overlaps can be attributed to the lack of georeferenced maps in the country. Notably, the law requires a georeferenced map for land titles to acquire full legal force. None of the communities has a georeferenced map.

Another driver of the conflict is competition over resources. The area contested by Totorabamba and Ocollo is rich in pastures and has eucalyptus and pine tree plantations cultivated by Totorabamba residents. The residents of Ocollo cross over to graze their animals and harvest trees, even though Totorabamba has registered the area as a protected natural area. Importantly, except for Ocollo, the communities are also grappling with land shortages, making the contested areas even more valuable. Young families and women in the three communities are demanding land for housing and farming, and the contested lands are sought for allocation. Environmental degradation due to over-exploitation of natural resources and deforestation has exacerbated the land shortage, driving demand higher.

Impacts on women.

As already noted, due to the conflict, women and young families are unable to access land, impacting their livelihood options and food security. However, women have also become key players in the resolution of the conflict. In Totorabamba and Huancapuquio, a critical opening for women’s participation was introduced with the change in community governance statutes, giving women formal recognition as community members with the right to participate in community assemblies and to vote and run for public positions. This was coupled with a capacity-building initiative that includes training for women on collective rights, land governance and community management. Women were then able to run for executive office and board positions within their communities, and have succeeded in strengthening their communities’ land claims and in re-establishing dialogue to negotiate and find solutions with the competing community.

Conflict resolution efforts.

ILC member organisation Asociación Servicios Educativos Rurales (SER) Peru worked on the two initiatives that empowered women in Totorabamba and Huancapuquio, as well as more than 30 other communities in the Ayacucho Region. SER’s initiatives are centred on enhancing and highlighting the role of women in conflict transformation and land governance.

The case studies emphatically demonstrate that reducing land-related conflicts and their adverse impacts on women and their communities will require advancing women’s land rights and participation in decision-making. This will require parallel and complementary measures – involving government, international development agencies, civil society and NGOs – to cover all of the legal, social and institutional aspects. Some of these are outlined below.

Legal empowerment:

• Align land and inheritance laws with constitutional guarantees of equal rights for men and women and simplify the procedures for obtaining formal land titles for all people.
• Strengthen enforcement of laws promoting and defending women’s land rights, from the smallest districts to national level, and strengthen equal rights laws and gender-specific policy frameworks, especially at the grassroots level
• Ensure that land distribution policies and programmes, including agricultural subsidies and other social benefits, are equally accessible to all

Capacity Building

• Conduct gender sensitization campaigns in communities to increase awareness among men and women of women’s land rights and gender justice, prioritizing traditional authorities in customary norms contexts
• Conduct multi-pronged trainings for women to increase their capacity in areas including financial literacy, awareness of rights, understanding of collective land rights and land management, leadership, negotiation and conflict mediation skills and strategies. The trainings should increase visibility and acceptance of women as mediators in land-based conflicts and contribute to ensure equal access to resources (including finance and credit, technology, information and education) for all women
• Build or strengthen grassroots women’s organisations and support their advocacy for land rights and participation in decision-making at local, national, regional and international levels

Institutional Streamlining

• Digitize land records and develop spatial data and georeferenced maps that clearly indicate collectively-held lands and their boundaries and develop a clear and accurate land registry
• Integrate gender inclusion and awareness into training for public officials and agents
• Encourage and support gender-inclusive mapping and documenting of customary and community land

Policy:

• Implement and monitor designed national climate policies, programmes and action plans so that all groups benefit equally
• Involve and work with national-level organisations and particularly women in assessing circle climate impacts; documenting and mapping rights, to develop gender-specific responses and policy discourse
• Assess the gaps on legal and policy knowledge at the grassroots level, and recognize the role of local and community-based land administration structures and how they can best collaborate with State actors towards conflict resolution.

Women’s role

• Promote intersectional approaches and women-led initiatives to transform land and climate justice, by harnessing women’s traditional knowledge and experiences
• Promote participation of all in decision-making processes to ensure that climate actions are inclusive and responsive
• Develop gender-responsive land dispute resolution mechanisms through multi-stakeholder engagement