Land access, livelihoods, and land meaning in perspectives of women in the Land Rights Movement in Southern Thailand

Abstract

This paper focuses on access to land, livelihoods, and meaning of land to women through interviews with 34 women who live in one of the land rights movement communities in Southern Thailand. Gender is an important factor determining women’s access to land, but the results of this study demonstrate that intersectionality or the multiple identities in women such as age, generation, and marital status, also influence women’s land use, income generation and their view on the meaning of land. The study found that access to land rights and security impacts livelihood security. In the middle of rural transformation in Thailand, the meaning of land in the view of women in the land rights movement has extended beyond the conventional agrarian notions relating to land for agriculture. Land is seen more as an asset and for generational security.