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To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and promote gender-equitable land tenure, discriminatory laws, institutions, and customary practices need to be addressed.

From large land acquisitions that displace communities without due compensation, to the encroachment of mining on indigenous lands, to the brunt of climate change and natural disasters, to everyday land and property deprivation by kin or state, women are typically more harshly impacted by land tenure insecurity due to discriminatory laws and lingering social bias.

For millions of rural women their nexus to the land – their lifeline, home, livelihood, and social security – often teeters on the strength of their relationship to their father, husband, brother or son. In many contexts, they lack direct, unmediated rights to the land. They face layers of discrimination in both the law and in practice, fueled by their gender, race, ethnicity, affiliation, orientation, age, or social status.

Research affirms that secure land rights can be transformational[2] for women, their families, and communities. The Global Agenda for Sustainable Development[3] spotlights land as a critical driver, and regional efforts reflect growing political support for women’s land rights. Broad coalitions of NGOs and civil society rally around regional and global calls. The Deliver for Good campaign[4] spotlights women’s land rights as critical to a holistic gender-responsive implementation of the sustainable development agenda. A recently launched Africa Land Policy Initiative campaign calls for 30 percent of documented land in women’s name individually or jointly[5].

Source:

Landesa - Rural Development Institute

Numbers

According to UN Women, women make up on average less than 20 percent of the world’s landholders[8].

Yet there is no global or consistent national data on the true scope of women’s land rights. Efforts to quantify women’s land ownership is often criticized because no clear, universal definition of land “ownership” for women exists, and women (and men) can access and use land under a broad range of legal and customary land tenure arrangements. Based on evidence across multiple measures of land ownership, women do own less land and have less secure rights over land than men[9], but there is no systematically collected data[10] on women’s land rights or access to land.

Governments’ high-level commitment to land rights reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals could potentially revolutionize data collection on women’s rights to land. Goal 1 on ending poverty stands to generate comprehensive, systemic evidence of both state-documented land rights and women’s (and men’s) perceptions of the security of their land tenure (to be captured by Goal 1’s Indicator 1.4.2)[11].

The hundreds of millions of women who depend on land for their livelihood, survival, and housing stand to benefit immensely if laws, policies, and programs become better informed by such evidence, on local, national, and global level.

Laws and Practice

Under formal law[12], women have equal property rights in 115 countries and equal inheritance rights in 93 countries. However, the 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that in 79 countries where women have equal rights to own and access land in formal law, discriminatory practices curtail such rights in practice[13]. Even where land access is legally enshrined, women are often relegated to smaller, lesser quality plots, lack access to requisite agricultural extensions services, and face lingering gender bias and discrimination within families and communities and by officials implementing land reform schemes[14].

Community and Collective Land Rights

Women are particularly and adversely impacted when community and indigenous peoples’ collective land rights are disregarded. Despite a history of customary use and ownership of over 50 percent of the world’s land area, ownership and control by the world’s Indigenous People and local communities – up to 2.5 billion women and men – is only legally recognized for a fifth of the land that is rightfully theirs[15]. Rapidly expanding land and natural resources-based investments and development projects often lead to the displacement of Indigenous People and local communities, with women adversely and disproportionately affected[16],due in part to their unequal participation in shaping community governance and national policies.

As governments increasingly seek to recognize communities’ land rights, the definition of communities and of community membership and rights continue to reflect a gender bias. In many settings, women are seen as “transient” members of the community, expected to “marry out” of their birth communities. These women often lose their natal community rights upon marriage, without being fully accepted as members of their marital communities. Communities with polygamous arrangements further complicate and dilute women’s land rights.

Land Governance and Decision-Making

Women’s participation and leadership in rural councils responsible for major land-related decisions, including allocations and investments, remains the exception. Women rarely head or chair rural councils[17] in Bangladesh (0.2 percent) and Cambodia (7 percent). In Tanzania, where progressive laws mandate at least 25 percent council-level participation by women but do not require a gender quorum, women continue to be absent, silent or marginalized in discussions about major decisions affecting the entire community, including the fate of their livelihood. A 2016 World Resources Institute study of Tanzania, Mozambique and the Philippines concluded that “women’s lower rates of literacy, limited mobility, and care responsibilities can also present barriers to the exercise of their rights[18].”

Climate Change and Natural Resources

As the bulk of the world’s poor and those who most rely on land and natural resources for their livelihood, women are hardest hit by climate change[19].Research shows that women in the regions of the world most affected by climate change—Africa and South Asia—bear the brunt of increased natural disasters, displacement, unpredictable rain fall, decreased food production, and increased hunger and poverty. Even well-intentioned government and private conservation or carbon markets efforts can result in devastating results for women who depend on forests or natural resources for their livelihood and survival but lack recognized rights to them.

Emerging evidence suggests that when women hold secure rights to land, efforts to tackle climate change are more successful[20],and responsibilities and benefits associated with climate change response programs are more equitably distributed. Conversely, without effective legal control over the land they farm or the proceeds of their labor, women often lack the incentive, security, opportunity, or authority to make decisions about ways to conserve the land and to ensure its long-term productivity. Nonetheless, overemphasis on women as chief stewards of the environment has been criticized for over-whelming women’s already heavy, disproportionate caretaking load, whether of the home, or of the planet.

Empowerment Effect

Research demonstrates links between strengthening women’s rights to land and productive assets and women’s increased participation in household decision making. Women’s land rights are generally considered secure if they are defined clearly and for a known duration; socially and legally legitimate and recognized; unaffected by changes in social status that would not affect men’s tenure security (such as dissolution of marriage by divorce or death), enforceable and directly exercisable without an additional layer of approval that applies only to women.

Secure land rights for women contribute to powerful continued ripple effects[21], including:

Greater status and bargaining -power in the household and the community[22, 23]
Better nutrition and food security for women and their families[24]
Higher earning and individual savings[25]
Improved access to micro-credit and formal loans[26]
Greater food and harvest productivity[27]
Decreased vulnerability to contracting HIV and better ability to manage it[28]
Potential reduction in domestic violence[29]
Improved family health[30]
Educational gains for children, including for girls[31]

References

[1] The Law of the Land: Women’s Rights to Land. Landesa at www.landesa.org/resources/property-not-poverty/

[2] Women’s Land Rights. (2016). Landesa at www.landesa.org/resources/womens-land-rights-and-the-sustainable-development-goals/

[3] 17 Goals to Transform Our World. United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals at http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

[4] Deliver for Good, Accelerate Access to Resources – Land, Clean Energy, Water, and Sanitation (2016), at http://womendeliver.org/investment/accelerate-access-resources-land-clean-energy-water-sanitation.

[5] Launch of the 30% Campaign for Women’s Land Ownership in Africa. (2016). United Nations Economic Commission for Africa at http://www.uneca.org/campaign

[6] Action Aid, The Kilimanjaro Initiative: mobilising rural women (2016) at http://www.actionaid.org/2016/09/kilimanjaro-initiative-mobilising-rural-women

[7] Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Indigenous women are raising their voices and can no longer be ignored (Aug. 7, 2015) at https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/aug/07/international-day-of-the-worlds-indigenous-peoples-women-victoria-tauli-corpuz-un-special-rapporteur.

[8] Facts & Figures. United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women at http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/commission-on-the-status-of-women-2012/facts-and-figures

[9] R. Meinzen-Dick, S. Theis, & A. Quisumbing. (October 2016). Three Myths about Rural Women. International Food Policy Research Institute at http://www.ifpri.org/blog/three-myths-about-rural-women

[10] C. Doss. (May 2016). We Don’t Know How Many Women Own Land. Why?. Thomson Reuters Foundation News at http://news.trust.org/item/20160516120134-jqvsx

[11] Goal 1: End Poverty in All its Forms Everywhere. (June 2016). United Nations Statistics Division at http://unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/metadata-compilation/Metadata-Goal-1.pdf

[12] Progress of the World’s Women. (2011-2012). United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women at http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2011/progressoftheworldswomen-2011-en.pdf

[13] The Law of the Land: Women’s Rights to Land. Landesa at www.landesa.org/resources/property-not-poverty/

[14] FAO. The State of Food and Agriculture 2010-2011. Women in Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap in Development, p.23, at http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i2050e/i2050e.pdf.

[15] F. Pearce. (2016). Common Ground: Securing Land Rights and Safeguarding the Earth. International Land Coalition at http://www.landcoalition.org/sites/default/files/documents/resources/bp-common-ground-land-rights-020316-en.pdf

[16] E. Daley. (January 2011) Gendered Impacts of Commercial Pressures on Land. International Land Coalition at http://www.landcoalition.org/sites/default/files/documents/resources/MOKORO_Gender_web_11.03.11.pdf

[17] Facts & Figures: Rural Women and the Millennium Development Goals. United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Rural Women at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/ruralwomen/facts-figures.html

[18] M. Morarji, C. Salcedo-La Vina. (July 2016). Making Women’s Voices Count in Community Decision-Making on Land Investments. World Resources Institute at http://www.wri.org/sites/default/files/Making_Womens_Voices_Count_In_Community_Decision-Making_On_Land_Investments.pdf

[19] E. Neumayer, T. Pluemper. (January 2007). The Gendered Nature of Natural Disasters: The Impact of Catastrophic Events on the Gender Gap in Life Expentancy, 1981-2002. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Vol. 97, No. 3, pp. 551-566, 2007 at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=874965

[20] C. Caron, A. Goldstein, A. Knox, J. Miner. (November 2010). The Interface of Land and Natural Resource Tenure and Climate Change Mitigation Strategies: Challenges and Options. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization at http://foris.fao.org/static/data/nrc/Knox_etal_Tenure_and_CCM.pdf

[21] Women’s Land Rights. (2016). Availabe at: www.landesa.org/resources/womens-land-rights-and-the-sustainable-development-goals/

[22] C. Deere, C. Doss. (2008). Gender and the Distribution of Wealth in Developing Countries. In Personal Wealth from a Global Perspective. Ed. by James Davies.

[23] B. Agarwal. (1997). “Bargaining” and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household. Feminist Economics. 3(1): 1-51.

[24] Women’s empowerment and voice in household decision making leads to an increase in spending allocated to food, healthcare, and education which improve children’s wellbeing in the present as well as future human capital. See:

K. Allendorf. (2007) Do Women’s Land Rights Promote Empowerment and Child Health in Nepal?. World Development 35(11):1975‐1988.

N. Menon, Y. van der Meulen Rodgers, & H. Nguyen. (2014). Women’s Land Rights and Children’s Human Capital in Vietnam. World Development, 54, 18-31.

C. Doss. (2006). The Effects of Intrahousehold Property Ownership on Expenditure Patterns in Ghana. Journal of African Economies, 15(1), 149-180.

[25] Peterman found that secure access to land led to a four-fold increase in income and thirty-five percent higher savings rate. See:

A. Peterman. (2011). Women’s Property Rights and Gendered Policies: Implications for Women’s Long-term Welfare in Rural Tanzania. The Journal of Development Studies 47(1): 1-30.

[26] K. Saito, et al. (1994). Raising the Productivity of Women Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank Research Report, 1(1):1-110 p. 95.

[27] Women’s empowerment and voice in household decision making leads to an increase in spending allocated to food, healthcare, and education which improve children’s wellbeing in the present as well as future human capital.

K. Allendorf. (2007) Do Women’s Land Rights Promote Empowerment and Child Health in Nepal?. World Development 35(11):1975‐1988.

N. Menon, Y. van der Meulen Rodgers, & H. Nguyen. (2014). Women’s Land Rights and Children’s Human Capital in Vietnam. World Development, 54, 18-31.

C. Doss. (2006). The Effects of Intrahousehold Property Ownership on Expenditure Patterns in Ghana. Journal of African Economies, 15(1), 149-180.

[28] Research has also indicated that secure land rights make women less vulnerable to HIV as well as better able to manage it. See:

R.S. Strickland. (2004). To Have and To Hold: Women’s Property and Inheritance Rights in the Context of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa (Working Paper). Washington, DC: International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)

C. Sweetman. (2008). How Title Deeds Make Sex Safer: Women’s Property Rights in an Era of HIV (From Poverty to Power: Background Paper): Oxfam

International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). (2006). Reducing Women’s and Girls’ Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS by Strengthening their Property and Inheritance Rights. at http://data.unaids.org/pub/InformationNote2006/2006_icrw_property_rights...

[29] Research has shown that women with secure land access were eight times less likely to suffer from domestic violence.

P. Panda & B. Agarwal. (2005). Marital violence, human development and women’s property status in India. World Development 33(5)

[30] N. Menon, Y. van der Meulen Rodgers, & H. Nguyen. (2014). Women’s Land Rights and Children’s Human Capital in Vietnam. World Development, 54, 18-31.

[31] C. Doss. (2006). The Effects of Intrahousehold Property Ownership on Expenditure Patterns in Ghana. Journal of African Economies, 15(1), 149-180.

Indicator	Min-Max Number of years	Countries / Obs	Min / Max Value
Distribution of agricultural land area owned by sex (female - share%)
Distribution of agricultural landowners by sex (female - share %)
Q38E - Women should have equal right to land -- Strongly Disagree (%)
Q77D - Women and men have equal chance to own/inherit land -- Strongly Disagree (%)
Restricted Resources and Entitlements - Land Titles Owned by Women
Secure access to land assets - Law (SIGI2019)
Secure access to land assets - Practice (SIGI2019)
Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI)

Distribution of agricultural land area owned by sex (female - share%)

FAO - Land and Gender

Distribution of agricultural land area owned by sex (female - share%) according to the FAO Land and Gender Database.

Measurement unit:

Percentage (%)

Distribution of agricultural landowners by sex (female - share %)

FAO - Land and Gender

Distribution of agricultural landowners by sex (female - share %) according to the FAO Land and Gender Database.

Measurement unit:

Percentage (%)

Q38E - Women should have equal right to land -- Strongly Disagree (%)

Afrobarometer Survey

This indicator from round 7 of the Afrobarometer shows the share of respondents, in a given country, that selected "Strongly Disagree" when presented with the following statement:

Measurement unit:

Percentage (%)

Q77D - Women and men have equal chance to own/inherit land -- Strongly Disagree (%)

Afrobarometer Survey

This indicator from round 7 of the Afrobarometer shows the share of respondents, in a given country, that selected "Strongly Disagree" when presented with the following statement:

Measurement unit:

Percentage (%)

Restricted Resources and Entitlements - Land Titles Owned by Women

OECD - Social Institutions and Gender Index Database

This indicator is taken from the OECD the Gender, Institutions and Development Database (GID-DB). It is and index ranging from 0 to 1.

Measurement unit:

Index (0; 1)

Secure access to land assets - Law (SIGI2019)

OECD - Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Database 2019

Measurement unit:

Index (0; 1)

Secure access to land assets - Practice (SIGI2019)

OECD - Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Database 2019

Laws on access to land assets: Whether women and men have the same legal rights and secure access to land assets

Measurement unit:

Index (0; 1)

Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI)

OECD - Social Institutions and Gender Index Database

The SIGI is built on 12 innovative indicators on social institutions, which are grouped into 5 categories / subindexes: Family Code, Physical Integrity, Son Preference, Civil Liberties and Ownershi

Measurement unit:

Index (0; 1)

Cargando mapa...

Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI)

OECD - Social Institutions and Gender Index Database

The SIGI is built on 12 innovative indicators on social institutions, which are grouped into 5 categories / subindexes: Family Code, Physical Integrity, Son Preference, Civil Liberties and Ownershi

Measurement unit:

Index (0; 1)

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Restricted Resources and Entitlements - Woman Access to Land

OECD - Social Institutions and Gender Index Database

This indicator is a sub-component of the Restricted Resources and Entitlements Indicator and measures whether women and men have equal and secure access to land use, control and ownership.

Measurement unit:

Index (0; 1)

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