Since the year 2000, millions of hectares of land in the Global South have been acquired by foreign investors for large-scale agricultural projects, displacing and disrupting rural communities. Women are especially disadvantaged by the global land grab: they are less likely to inherit, control, or make decisions over land, but often need land to support themselves, their families, and their communities. While international organizations have developed global guidelines to improve land governance, tensions still run high as the current policies fall short.

Gender and the Global Land Grab introduces a feminist conceptual framework to analyze land governance policy around the world. Andrea Collins shows how gender norms, biases, and expectations shape land politics at different levels of governance. Drawing on examples from sub-Saharan Africa and with an in-depth case study of land politics in Tanzania, the book assesses guidelines developed by institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Bank to highlight essential considerations for developing and implementing gender-sensitive policy.

Illustrating how gender shapes resource policy across all levels of political activity, Gender and the Global Land Grab provides valuable tools for transforming global policymaking.

Andrea M. Collins is associate professor in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo.

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“Andrea Collins does an excellent job positioning the argument for the relevance of a feminist global governance perspective in relation to recent literature on gender, land reform, and agrarian change. This book will be of interest to a large and diverse audience, including students, researchers, development practitioners, and activists.” Lincoln Addison, Memorial University of Newfoundland