WUNRN
GLOBAL CENTER FOR WOMEN'S LAND
RIGHTS
Women's Land Rights
Providing secure land rights to
women isn’t just a good idea – it is essential to addressing poverty and hunger
around the world. When women have secure rights to land, they can become
investors in their family’s future and can ensure that their children’s needs
are met.
Studies have found that
when women have secure rights to land:
• Family nutrition and health
improve
• Women are less likely to
contract and spread HIV/AIDS and are better able to
cope with the consequences of
AIDS
• Women are less likely to be
victims of domestic violence
• Children are more likely to get
an education and stay in school longer
• Women may have better access to
micro-credit
In short, investing in a woman’s
land rights creates an extraordinary ripple effect that spreads to her family,
village, and beyond.
However, in much of the world,
while women shoulder the burden of food production (60 to 80 percent), they
often don’t have secure rights to the land they farm. Although they till the
fields, they are often barred from inheriting or owning those fields. This puts
them at risk for losing that land if they lose their husband, father, or
brother because of illness, violence, or migration. And losing the land often
means losing their source of food, income, and shelter.
But ensuring that women have
secure land rights is more complicated than just giving them a title. Although
law is important, traditions and customs play a strong role in determining
whether women have rights to land and whether those rights are meaningful. We
know that women’s land rights have to be both legally and socially enforceable
to be effective.
Women’s rights to land are at the
strategic center of RDI’s work to help the poorest. Women do 60 - 80 percent of
the farming in developing countries, yet only 2 percent of the world’s land is
owned by women. And women and girls comprise more than 70 percent of the
world’s 1.4 billion poor people. When they are empowered to play active roles
in society, women and girls improve the health, education and earning power of
their families and communities.
Global Center for Women's Land Rights
To address these challenges and
unite the global community in support of women’s land rights, the Rural Development
Institute (RDI) launched the Global Center for Women’s Land Rights in 2009.
RDI’s Center provides resources and training on women’s land rights and
connects policymakers, researchers, and practitioners from around the world.
RDI’s Center pilots innovative solutions to women’s lack of secure land rights.
It educates development experts about the gap between customary and
institutional law and ensures that this is addressed in RDI’s projects. RDI’s
Center ensures that women remain a core focus of RDI’s work to help the poorest
of the poor.
Current Initiatives
Global Fellowship Program
RDI's Global Fellowship Program
provides training opportunities for qualified professionals seeking to pursue a
career in helping to secure land and property rights for women and girls. The
program is designed to provide a career path and specialized training
opportunities for legal professionals in the U.S., experienced professionals in
developing countries who could benefit from comparative experience, and
experienced non-legal professionals from NGOs who seek comparative legal
knowledge.
e-Library on Women’s Property Rights
RDI's Global Center for Women's
Land Rights is building a database of formal laws related to women's land
rights from every country in the world. This “e-library” will also include
research on customary law related to women's land rights where
available. The e-Library on women’s property rights will be an open-source
platform, allowing users to share and post laws and related materials on how
those laws are practiced thorough a discussion forum. The e-Library will be
cross-referenced via topics (widows' rights, dowry, girls’ inheritance, etc.)
as well as by countries and regions in a variety of languages.This helps legal
practitioners and women's advocates create more effective and suitable
programming.
Advocacy and Education
We cannot overcome poverty and
gender discrimination alone. It will take a global movement of individuals,
community groups, organizations and national governments. To address the
knowledge deficit about women’s land rights among those in a position to affect
change—governments, donors, and policymakers—we will provide evidence-based
research and recommendations to strengthen secure land rights for women and
girls. Through policy briefings, training workshops, and forums with NGOs,
donors and policymakers, we will work to increase understanding that secure
land rights for women and girls change lives and change societies.
Girls and Land
Daughters do not traditionally
inherit land, because they typically move away from the village to their
husband’s home after marriage. Most girls leave their family homes with
no economic asset of their own (such as land), leaving them vulnerable and
powerless in their new homes. To address this, RDI is working in
partnership with the Nike Foundation and other partners to help girls gain a
critical economic asset—land—to reduce their vulnerability to poverty,
gender-based violence, HIV, early marriage, and trafficking, and to gain
opportunities for a better future.
For more information, contact inquiries@womenandland.org