Land Privatization and Gender. Full Private Property and Right of First Buyer in Atenco, State of Mexico

Abstract

Neoliberal policies have brought about poverty, migration, and agrarian land individualization. The objective of this paper was to analyze the process of land sales in four of the six  “ejidos” or communal land in Atenco, State of Mexico. It focuses on the adoption of full private property and women’s exercise of the right of first buyer. The paper’s originality lies not only in the gender analysis of land privatization, but also in the fact that research was conducted in a municipality well known for the defense of its territory. Data were obtained by means of three methods: communal land (ejido) archival research; participant observation, as well as group and individual interviews. Two patterns of full private-property adoption and the exercise of the right of first buyer were identified. In the first pattern, transactions were individual (parcel by parcel), while in the second, land sales were operated in groups. In both cases, authorities failed to protect women’s rights as first buyers. The women themselves also lacked information on how to defend the family’s patrimony.