Gender, Household Headship and Entitlements to Land: New Vulnerabilities in Vietnam's Decollectivization

The process of decollectivization in Vietnam, leading up to the 1993 Land Law, ensured farming households the rights to market their own produce and to transfer, exchange, lease, inherit, and mortgage their land-use rights. These changes imply a reworking of relations between state, market, and household, but also within households. Although the allocation of agricultural land in northern Vietnam was relatively equitable, allocation by the state represents only one channel of entitlements to land. The market represents a second, and customary or kinshipmediated channels, such as inheritance, are a third. This article examines the gendered dimensions of entitlements to land, particularly among female-headed households. While increasing attention is being directed to the nexus of gender and poverty and to the experiences of households headed by women, insufficient consideration is given to the diversity of female-headed households, and associated differences in livelihood vulnerability and entitlements to land. This gap is addressed through a case study in one village in northern Vietnam. The concluding discussion offers some directions concerning Vietnamese feminisms and decollectivization dynamics as agendas for future research.

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