This document summarizes a study on the impact of agrarian transformations on customary land tenure and gender relations among indigenous communities in Northeastern Cambodia. The study found that while customary tenure originally supported women's access to land, land titling efforts and market liberalization have weakened customary systems and women's land rights. Through qualitative interviews, the study examined how changes like land sales, inheritance norms, and women's participation in governance have impacted gender relations. It concludes that external land pressures now pose the greatest risk to women, and recommends strengthening land rights, improving services, and recognizing indigenous women's roles to better support their land tenure security.

1. Women, Land and Kinship: the impact of agrarian transformation on customary tenure
among Indigenous communities in Northeastern Cambodia
Clara Mi Young Park
Gender Rural and Social Development Officer
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations
Land Forum
Bangkok, 29 May 2018

2. Customary land rights and gender: a
conflictual relationship
Gender exposes the “tension between the customary as the site of
resistance to the state…and the customary as the site of unequal rural
social relations”
Global land titling and privatization policies promoted the notion that
land market development would strengthen women’s land tenure
compared to customary rights
However, the debate on gender has exposed the ineffectiveness of
land market liberalization as a tool for gender equality
At the same time, the complex foundation of customary land tenure
as a more equal basis for women’s access to land has been challenged

3. Customary land rights
and gender: a
contradictory linkage
• Customary rights are constantly
being re-structured and re-
negotiated
• Attempts to codify customary
laws result in reductionist
understandings of them
• Customary rights are intertwined
and derive their legitimacy from
the gender culture and hierarchy
in a given context

4. Research objectives
Analyse the impact of land tenure, agrarian and socio-economic
systems changes on resources allocation and transfer along gender
lines and generations
Provide a background of overall land tenure security issues with
reference to the legal framework
Generate knowledge and raise awareness on gender issues and
indigenous women’s access to land and natural resources under
customary land tenure systems
Provide recommendations for policies and programs

5. Research questions and methodology
Intra-household level: how kinship, locality, inheritance, access to
assets, decision making are shaped by changes in land tenure and
agrarian systems
Community level: how the role of women has been influenced by
changes in the social, economic, cultural and religious context
Indigenous women’s agency in relation to land management and
community governance
Qualitative research: discussions with women, elders and in depth
interviews with households’ members, both women and men in 7
communities

6. Agrarian
transformations in
Ratanakiri Province
• Substantial alienation of land and
natural resources and rapid process
of land commodification
• Securing access to land and forests
via the Land Law, which grants to
indigenous communities a Collective
Land Title (CLT)
• But also resistance and active protest
• Changes in shifting cultivation
systems and customary tenure
• Matrilineal and bilateral kinship
structures of the ethnic groups in
Northern Cambodia have guaranteed
women access to key assets

7. Research Sites
Community
Ethnicity
Land Tenure and community initiative Women’s participation in land
management
Kalai 2
Kreung
Individual land ownership; no collective action or
engagement in land management action;
No common land management
structures
Sway
Kreung
Collective land title nearly achieved; land management
committee functioning;
Women participation in land
management mainly nominal
L’eun Chon
Tampouan
Collective land title nearly achieved; land management
committee functioning;
Women’s active participation in land
management
Lapo/
Tampouan
Individual land ownership; no collective action, community
severely affected by land grab and sales;
No common land management
structures
Lon/
Tampouan
After a process of disintegration the community manage to
acquire land and resettled in a new area; despite individual
land ownership, collective land management is in place;
Women’s active participation in land
management
Kachok/
Jarai
Individual land ownership; land grabbing and sales,
application of the Directive 01BB diverted the process to
acquire the CLT
No common land management
structures; women marginalized in
community affairs
Tangmlu
Jarai
Collective management of the community land, despite
individual ownership; the community has chosen not to get
involved in the process of CLT considered too troublesome
and not offering enough guarantees
Women’s active participation in land
management

8. Land deals in cases of
divorce and widowhood
• Divorce and widowhood are critical
events where in many cultures
women’ livelihood, assets and
property are at risk
• Despite a customary rights system
that protects women, changes
occur and tend to erode women’s
rights
• ‘Re-invention’ of customary affects
women (e.g. Sway community)
• Changes in attitude, role and
legitimacy of customary authorities
favors the wealthy and powerful

9. Inheritance and marriage
Women’s access, use and inheritance of land remains overall well
established
Women enter a marriage alliance without depending on a male family
member to get access to land and they are not simply stewardesses of
ancestors’ assets
In Kreung communities bilateral inheritance rules remains unchanged;
in Tampouan and Jarai communities matrilineal inheritance persists but
with a tendency to become less exclusive and include male offspring
None of the communities in the study has adopted patrilineal
inheritance norms or shifted toward male dominated ownership of
land and assets

10. Changes in customary systems
Even if customary rules determine women’s exclusive inheritance of
land, this does not protect women from other forms of marginalization
and exclusion
With commoditization of land the role of internal community
structures (elders) becomes more relevant and legitimacy and gender
inclusiveness are of crucial importance for women’s land rights
Processes of social differentiation can determine the prevalence of
power groups and interfere with community land management
Weakest households, especially widows, at risk of being marginalized
by these processes

11. Women’s agency
Participation of women in decision making in land management varies.
However, they do not discuss common issues or present proposals on land
Women do not initiate discussions or present proposals concerning
community issues, unless those are already in the agenda and women are
called to provide their ideas or approval
Women lament lack of role models and the scarce support received by
external actors (NGOs)
Indigenous organizations’ gender discourse focuses on aspects more
functional to advocacy but often overlooks internal gender inequality and
women’s own self-organizing capacity

12. Women’s participation in governance
Active participation of women in the land management structures =>
most effective mechanism to ensure accountability and guarantee fair
decisions concerning land allocation, property and transfer
Women’s participation in community affairs more difficult when
communities engage with legal and administrative structures, markets
and networks, or development actors
When communities integrate into these new webs, either women have
the support of the community or are left behind
Where villages had strong and autonomous agency, women’s
participation and gender equality also strengthened

13. Conclusions
The highest risk for women is represented by external threats of land
dispossession
Internal social stratification and the growing pressure on land favors
concentration of wealth and resources and leave some community
members behind
In some cases land management structures seem to lack accountability
or are excluding women
Little external support is available to indigenous women facing these
challenges and defending their land rights

14. Recommendations
• Implementation of the Land Law (IP
articles) to be simplified and more
accessible
• Access to land titles easier
• Alternatives for communities not
eligible for the CLT
• Essential services (health care,
education, water, sanitation, energy,
public transport) prioritized through
AA
• Role of indigenous women
recognized by policy makers and
implementers at central and local
level

15. Thank you
clara.park@fao.org, marianna.bicchieri@fao.org