Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T19:35:24.732Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modest Expectations: Gender and Property Rights in Urban Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Ann Varley
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines gender and property in Guadalajara, Mexico, in the light of debates that oppose formal title to the social embeddedness of rights in customary law and assert that titling is bad for women. The article focuses on urban homes, private property, and civil law but finds that qualities regarded as characterizing customary property relations also shape popular understandings of property in urban Mexico. Discussion groups and social surveys in four low-income neighborhoods addressed two aspects of family law and property: whose name should appear on titles, and who should inherit the home. The results show that women, as wives, sisters, and daughters, have a secondary relationship to property. They also suggest that the opposition of individual title to socially embedded rights is a false dichotomy and that generalizing arguments about formalization and especially the negative gender implications of titling risks replicating the universalizing tendencies of Western property models.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 67 - 100
Copyright
© 2010 Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I am very grateful for the fieldwork assistance and comments of Maribel Blasco, research officer for the project Gendered Housing: Identity and Independence in Urban Mexico (Economic and Social Research Council, UK, Research Grant R 000 23 6808), and for the insightful queries of the referees.

References

References

Arrom, Silvia Marina (1985) “Changes in Mexican Family Law in the Nineteenth Century: The Civil Codes of 1870 and 1884,” 10 J. of Family History 305–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Azuela, Antonio (1989) La ciudad, la propiedad privada y el derecho. Mexico City: El Colegio de México.Google Scholar
Baitenmann, Helga, Chenaut, Victoria, & Varley, Ann (2007) “Law and Gender in Mexico: Defining the Field,” in Baitenmann, H., Chenaut, V., & Varley, A., eds., Decoding Gender: Law and Practice in Contemporary Mexico. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Benda-Beckmann, Franz von (2003) “Mysteries of Capital or Mystification of Legal Property?,” 41 Focaal - European J. of Anthropology 187–91.Google Scholar
Benda-Beckmann, Franz von, et al. (2006) “The Properties of Property,” in Von Benda-Beckmann, F. et al., eds., Changing Properties of Property. New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Bennett, Vivienne (1995) The Politics of Water: Urban Protest, Gender, and Power in Monterrey, Mexico. Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chant, Sylvia (1991) Women and Survival in Mexican Cities: Perspectives on Gender, Labour Markets and Low-Income Households. Manchester, UK: Manchester Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Chimhowu, Admos, & Woodhouse, Phil (2006) “Customary vs Private Property Rights? Dynamics and Trajectories of Vernacular Land Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa,” 6 J. of Agrarian Change 346–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Córdova Plaza, Rosío (2003) “Acceso de las mujeres a la tierra y patrones de herencia en tres comunidades ejidales del centro de Veracruz,” 24 Relaciones 179–212.Google Scholar
Cousins, Ben (2005) “Tenure Reform in South Africa: Titling versus Social Embeddedness,” 32 Forum for Development Studies 415–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cousins, Ben (2007) “More Than Socially Embedded: The Distinctive Character of ‘Communal Tenure’ Regimes in South Africa and Its Implications for Land Policy,” 7 J. of Agrarian Change 281–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuaquentzi Pineda, Fabiola (2007) “Mujeres y parcela: Acceso a la tenencia de la tierra y al agua en el ejido de Mixquiahuala, Hidalgo,” 34 Estudios Agrarios 95–119.Google Scholar
Deere, Carmen Diana (2007) “Married Women's Property Rights in Mexico: A Comparative Latin American Perspective and Research Agenda,” in Baitenmann, H., Chenaut, V., & Varley, A., eds., Decoding Gender: Law and Practice in Contemporary Mexico. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Deere, Carmen Diana, & León, Magdalena (2001) Empowering Women: Land and Property Rights in Latin America. Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deere, Carmen Diana, & León, Magdalena (2005) “Liberalism and Married Women's Property Rights in Nineteenth-Century Latin America,” 85 Hispanic American Historical Rev. 627–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De la Peña, Guillermo (1984) “Ideology and Practice in Southern Jalisco: Peasants, Rancheros, and Urban Entrepreneurs,” in Smith, R. T., ed., Kinship Ideology and Practice in Latin America. Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
De Soto, Hernando (2000) The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. London: Bantam Press.Google Scholar
Emanuelli, Rosa Silva, ed. (2004) Vivienda con rostro de mujer: mujeres y derecho a una vivienda adecuada. Mexico City: Social Watch/Red Mujer y Hábitat/HIC-AL.Google Scholar
García Peña, Ana Lidia (2006) El fracaso del amor: Género e individualismo en el siglo XIX mexicano. Mexico City: El Colegio de México/UNAM.Google Scholar
Gilbert, Alan G., & Varley, Ann (1991) Landlord and Tenant: Housing the Poor in Urban Mexico. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giovarelli, Renee, et al. (2005) “Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects: A Synthesis Report.” Agriculture and Rural Development Department, World Bank, Report 32571-GLB, Washington DC.Google Scholar
González de la Rocha, Mercedes (1994) The Resources of Poverty: Women and Survival in a Mexican City. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
González Montes, Soledad (1988) “La reproducción de la desigualdad entre los sexos: Prácticas e ideología de la herencia en una comunidad campesina (Xalatlaco, Estado de México, 1920–1960),” in Aranda Bezaury, J., ed., Las mujeres en el campo. Oaxaca: Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca.Google Scholar
González Ortiz, Felipe, & Bordi, Ivonne Vizcarra (2006) Mujeres indígenas en el Estado de México: Vidas conducidas desde sus instituciones sociales. Toluca, México: El Colegio Mexiquense.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Sarah (2002) “Neoliberalism, Gender, and Property Rights in Rural Mexico,” 37 Latin American Research Rev. 119–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humphrey, Caroline, & Verdery, Katherine (2004) “Introduction: Raising Questions about Property,” in Verdery, K. & Humphrey, C., eds., Property in Question: Value Transformation in the Global Economy. Oxford, UK: Berg.Google Scholar
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía [INEGI] (1998) Las familias mexicanas. Aguascalientes, México: INEGI.Google Scholar
Jackson, Cecile (2003) “Gender Analysis of Land: Beyond Land Rights for Women?,” 3 J. of Agrarian Change 453–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joireman, Sandra F. (2008) “The Mystery of Capital Formation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Women, Property Rights and Customary Law,” 36 World Development 1233–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khadiagala, Lynn S. (2001) “The Failure of Popular Justice in Uganda: Local Councils and Women's Property Rights,” 32 Development and Change 55–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lastarria-Cornhiel, Susana (1997) “Impact of Privatization on Gender and Property Rights in Africa,” 25 World Development 1317–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeVine, Sarah, & Sunderland Correa, Clara (1993) Dolor y alegria: Women and Social Change in Urban Mexico. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
McCaa, Robert (2003) “The Nahua calli of Ancient Mexico: Household, Family, and Gender,” 18 Continuity and Change 23–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meinzen-Dick, Ruth, & Mwangi, Esther (2009) “Cutting the Web of Interests: Pitfalls of Formalising Property Rights,” 26 Land Use Policy 36–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merry, Sally Engle (1988) “Legal Pluralism,” 22 Law & Society Rev. 869–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mulhare, Eileen M. (2004) “Social Organization and Property Reform in Nineteenth-Century Rural Mexico,” 19 Continuity and Change 105–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Napolitano, Valentina (2002) Migration, Mujercitas, and Medicine Men: Living in Urban Mexico. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nuitjen, Monique (2003) “Family Property and the Limits of Intervention: The Article 27 Reforms and the PROCEDE Programme in Mexico,” 34 Development and Change 475–97.Google Scholar
Núñez Madrazo, María Cristina (2000) “Reforma ejidal y procesos locales de apropriación de la tierra en el centro de Veracruz,” 15 Estudios Agrarios 9–52.Google Scholar
Nyamu-Musembi, Celestine (2006a) “Breathing Life into Dead Theories about Property Rights: de Soto and Land Relations in Rural Africa.” Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Working Paper 272, Brighton, UK.Google Scholar
Nyamu-Musembi, Celestine (2006b) “Ruling out Gender Equality? The Post-Cold War Rule of Law Agenda in Sub-Saharan Africa,” 27 Third World Q. 1193–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, Pauline E. (2004) “Inequality and Social Conflict over Land in Africa,” 4 J. of Agrarian Change 269–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peters, Pauline E. (2006) “Beyond Embeddedness: A Challenge Raised by a Comparison of the Struggles over Land in African and Post-Socialist Countries,” in Von Benda-Beckmann, F. et al., eds., Changing Properties of Property. New York: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Purcell, Mark (2006) “Urban Democracy and the Local Trap,” 43 Urban Studies 1921–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramos Escandón, Carmen (2001) “Legislación y representación de género en la nación mexicana: La mujer y la familia en el discurso y la ley (1870–1890),” in Potthast, B. & Scarzanella, E., eds., Mujeres y naciones en América Latina: Problemas de inclusión y exclusión. Frankfurt and Madrid: Vervuert/Iberoamericana.Google Scholar
Robichaux, David L. (1988) “Hombre, mujer y la tenencia de la tierra en una comunidad de habla náhuatl de Tlaxcala,” in Aranda Bezaury, J., ed., Las mujeres en el campo. Oaxaca: Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca.Google Scholar
Robichaux, David L. (1997) “Residence Rules and Ultimogeniture in Tlaxcala and Mesoamerica,” 36 Ethnology 149–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robichaux, David L. (2002) “El sistema familiar mesoamericano y sus consecuencias demográficas,” 32 Papeles de Población 60–95.Google Scholar
Robles Berlanga, Héctor M., et al. (2000) ¡… y ando yo también en el campo! Presencia de la mujer en el agro mexicano. Mexico City: Procuraduría Agraria.Google Scholar
Ruiz Meza, Laura Elena (2006) “Género, grupos domésticos y derechos de propiedad sobre la tierra,” 21 El Cotidiano 7–19.Google Scholar
Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (2006) “The Heterogeneous State and Legal Pluralism in Mozambique,” 40 Law & Society Rev. 39–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sjaastad, Espin, & Cousins, Ben (2009) “Formalisation of Land Rights in the South: An Overview,” 26 Land Use Policy 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toulmin, Camilla (2005) “Securing Land and Property Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Role of Local Institutions,” in Bigg, T. & Satterthwaite, D., eds., How to Make Poverty History: The Central Role of Local Organizations in Meeting the MDGs. London: International Institute for Environment and Development.Google Scholar
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development [UNRISD] (2005) Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World. Geneva: UNRISD.Google Scholar
Valenzuela, Alejandra, & Robles Berlanga, Héctor M. (1996) “Presencia de la mujer en el campo mexicano,” 5 Estudios Agrarios 31–63.Google Scholar
Varley, Ann (1993) “Gender and Housing: The Provision of Accommodation for Young Adults in Three Mexican Cities,” 17 Habitat International 13–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varley, Ann (2000) “Women and the Home in Mexican Family Law,” in Dore, E. & Molyneux, M., eds., The Hidden Histories of Gender and the State in Latin America. Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Varley, Ann (2002) “Private or Public: Debating the Meaning of Tenure Legalization,” 26 International J. of Urban and Regional Research 449–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varley, Ann (2007a) “Domesticating the Law,” in Baitenmann, H., Chenaut, V., & Varley, A., eds., Decoding Gender: Law and Practice in Contemporary Mexico. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Varley, Ann (2007b) “Gender and Property Formalization: Conventional and Alternative Approaches,” 35 World Development 1739–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varley, Ann, & Blasco, Maribel (2003) “Older Women's Living Arrangements and Family Relationships in Urban Mexico,” 26 Women's Studies International Forum 525–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vázquez García, Verónica (2001) “Género y tenencia de la tierra en el ejido mexicano: ¿La costumbre o la ley del estado?,” 18 Estudios Agrarios 117–46.Google Scholar
Vázquez García, Verónica, & Flores Hernández, Aurelia (2002) ¿Quién cosecha lo sembrado? Relaciones de género en un área natural protegida mexicana, México. Mexico City: Plaza y Valdés.Google Scholar
Venosa Peña, Nicolás Edmundo, & Cortés Ruiz, Aura Gabriela (2007) “El empoderamiento de las mujeres rurales: Retos y perspectives,” 36 Estudios Agrarios 81–92.Google Scholar
Whitehead, Anne (1984) “Women and Men; Kinship and Property: Some General Issues,” in Hirschon, R., ed., Women and Property—Women as Property. Beckenham, UK: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Whitehead, Anne, & Tsikata, Dzodzi (2003) “Policy Discourses on Women's Land Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Implications of the Re-turn to the Customary,” in Razavi, S., ed., Agrarian Change, Gender and Land Rights. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Wilson, Fiona (1991) Sweaters: Gender, Class, and Workshop-Based Industry in Mexico. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yngstrom, Ingrid (2002) “Women, Wives and Land Rights in Africa: Situating Gender Beyond the Household in the Debate over Land Policy and Changing Tenure Systems,” 30 Oxford Development Studies 21–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Statutes Cited

Civil Code for the Federal District 1928, Article 182, reform published 25 May 2000.Google Scholar
Civil Code for the State of Colima 1954, Article 287 bis, reform published 26 May 2007.Google Scholar
Family Code of the State of Zacatecas 1986, Articles 138, 141, reform published 3 Oct. 2007.Google Scholar
Law of Family Relations 1917.Google Scholar
Mexico's civil codes are identified by the year of issue, until reformed in their entirety. Individual articles may be reformed in the interim. References are to the legislation in force between June and July 2009, as recorded on the Mexican Supreme Court Web site in August 2009. When drawing attention to a particular reform, I note the date of its official publication (see also Baitenmann, Chenaut, & Varley 2007:35–6).Google Scholar