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:
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.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS & ACCESS TO LAND - SE ASIAN CONTEXT - Link to 22-Page 2012 Report: http://www.landcoalition.org/sites/default/files/publication/1291/CEDAWWomenAccessLand.pdf
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LANDESA CENTER FOR WOMEN'S LAND
RIGHTS
LANDWISE - This
website contains free legal materials and articles related to women's land
rights.
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TOWARDS A GENDER-JUST TRANSFORMATORY
POLICY: ASSETS, AGENCY & THE STRUCTURES OF GOVERNANCE
Direct Link to Nitya Rao UNRISD
Power Point:
Excerpt - WOMEN'S LAND CLAIMS - THE ASIAN
SCENARIO
*The majority of women are
smallholder cultivators.
*Even with legal
(statutory & customary) & policy equality, only 10% of
women have land in their own
names.
*Concepts of "male head of
household" and "Asian values
of the family" are
pervasive.
*There is no linear relationship
between land ownership and gender
equality - Eg. Son preference
strong in India and China despite
women's economic participation.