The issue of land lies at the heart of South Africa's democratic transformation, but the extremity of apartheid's racial legacy is in danger of obscuring a no less pervasive oppression: that of women. This volume brings together recent research on women by the National Land Committee of South Africa. What emerges is a sharp sense of transition and crisis - and a pressing need for women's organization, to ensure that development and legislation are informed by the priorities of women, and that South Africa's land question is treated not least as a problem of gender transformation.

• List of contributors
• Forward
• Introduction
• PART ONE
• Women and tenure: marginality and the left-hand power
• Catherine Croos & Michelle Friedman
• Access to land: a rural perspective on tradition and resources
• Lisa Thorp
• Women's land rights: a case study from Northern Transvaal
• Janet Small
• PART TWO
• Cornfields, gender and land
• Cherryl Walker
• Women's land rights and needs: the caseof Thornhill and Merino Walk
• Sue Middleton
• Women, tenure and land reform: the case of Namaqualand's Reserves
• Fiona Archer & Shamin Meer
• PART THREE
• Women on Highveld farms: an outlook for development
• Linda Waldman & Mampe Ntsedi
• Western Cape fruit and wine farms: land, labour and housing tenure
• Sandra Hill-Lanz & Kathy O'Grady
• Evicted farm workers and gender in the small town of Aberdeen
• Bronwyn James & Sibongile Ngcobo
• References
• Bibliography
• Index.

Shamim Meer Shamim is a feminist activist, educator, researcher and writer. She was a co-founder of feminist publications SPEAK and Agenda. She has worked to advance social justice and women's rights in communities, within trade unions, and within development practice. She has written and edited publications on women's land rights, feminism and democracy, rights and development among others.