WUNRN
International Land Coalition
Women's Land Rights
The percentage of land owned by women
is disproportionately small considering their crucial contribution to
agriculture and especially the food security of households and communities. The
existing gender inequality in access to and control over natural resources is
an obstacle to their sustainable management and to sustainable development in
general.
There are two key arguments for
promoting women’s land rights:
1. Women’s
human rights are violated
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that human rights apply
equally to all, regardless of sex, yet women around the world are disproportionately
affected by human rights violations, which keeps them trapped in poverty. Women
have fewer benefits and protections under legal systems than men and are
largely excluded from decision-making structures. Women also lack control of
financial resources, have larger work burdens, and are more likely to suffer
from social isolation and threats or acts of violence.
2.
Women’s key role in food security and natural resource
management is not recognised
Women are primary agricultural producers, cultivating between 60 and 80 per
cent of the food in most developing countries, and ensure household food
security. Studies have found that agricultural productivity increases when
women are given the same inputs as men. Yet frequently women access land through
male relatives only, and not in their own right. Women’s lack of access to and
control over land is a key factor contributing to their poverty, with
devastating results for households and communities, and needs to be addressed
if poverty and hunger are to be reduced.
What can be done?
Women’s access to and control over resources is shaped by complex systems of
common and civil law as well as customary and religious laws and practices.
International law and conventions such as CEDAW
(Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women)
protect women’s human rights in signatory states, but are often at odds with
national legislation, the actual enforcement of legislation, or local
practices. Furthermore, the practise and perception of a woman’s position in
the household, family and community affects to what extent women can exercise
their land rights.
The ability to access land and to
claim, use and defend rights to natural resources is contingent on processes of
empowerment. Women face additional hurdles to empowerment, ranging from their
status within household and community to discriminatory customary or statutory
laws – such hurdles need to be addressed to contribute to women’s empowerment,
political, legal and economic, and to transforming gender roles so that women
participate in society on an equal footing.
A frequent criticism of efforts for
women’s empowerment and gender equality is that “western feminism” is a form of
cultural imperialism lacking respect for local tradition and culture. On the
contrary, a feminist approach challenges inequality between the sexes – much
like inequality of wealth – as an obstacle to people-centred development.
For ILC, the goal of working together on women’s land rights is to influence global, regional and national processes to enable women’s secure and equitable access to land.
PUBLICATIONS
Women’s
rights and access to land: Southeast Asian context
From 5-8 June, Erin Sinogba, Asia Projects and
Information Officer, attended the
2012
CSW
Synthesis of the online discussion
From 23 January to 6 February, ILC held an online
discussion leading up to the ILC-IFAD-FAO side event at the Commission on the
Status of...
ILC
2012
Women's
legal empowerment: lessons learned from community-based activities
In 2010 and 2011, the International Land Coalition (ILC)
supported five community-based projects promoting the legal empowerment of
rural women....
Sabine Pallas, Luca Miggiano
2012