VIOLENCES ÉCONOMIQUES ET EXCLUSION FONCIÈRE DES FEMMES DANS LE DÉPARTEMENT DE TAÏ

ABSTRACT: In Côte d’Ivoire, the economy depends heavily on cash crops, particularly cocoa and coffee, while the department of Taï, in the Cavally region, is a major production area. Despite formal equality under Ivorian land law, women face barriers to land ownership and control. This study examines the social mechanisms that exclude women from land rights in Taï and analyses exclusion as a form of economic violence and gender-based violence (GBV). A mixed-methods approach, combining questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and direct observation, was conducted between March and July 2026 with 87 women and 25 key informants in nine localities in the sub-prefectures of Taï and Zagné. Findings indicate that only 8% of surveyed women possess a formally recognised land right. Access to land depends mainly on husbands or in-laws (76%), while marriage, inheritance practices, and customary tutorship reinforce women’s dependency. These restrictions generate economic vulnerability: 30% of women report being unable to invest in perennial crops, 21% state that their agricultural income is controlled by their husbands, and 67% of widows lose access to land after their husband’s death. Social consequences include exclusion from agricultural decision-making (25%) and exposure to violence when women assert their land rights (22%). The study demonstrates that women’s land exclusion is embedded in a patriarchal customary order that legislation alone has failed to transform. It constitutes a structural form of economic violence, reinforcing dependency and limiting women’s autonomy. The findings support the hypotheses concerning customary norms and the dependency they produce, while indicating greater vulnerability among allochthonous women. By documenting these dynamics in an understudied area of southwestern Côte d’Ivoire, the study highlights the intersection of customary land governance,