BOX 11
Women’s Land Tenure Matters Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Amber Peterman, and Agnes Quisumbing, IFPRI
S
ecure land tenure is widely recognized as crucial for investments, productivity,
sustainability, and status. Without secure rights over their land, people do not have the incentive to invest in long-term sus- tainability or productivity enhancements on their land and may not even have the authority to make investments as straightforward as planting trees. Secure tenure reduces vulnerability to evic- tion and strengthens bargaining power, both outside and within the household. Although most analysis of land tenure has focused on the household, there is increasing acknowledgment that the gen- der distribution of land rights both across and within households also matters. The 2010–11 State of Food and Agriculture Report highlights how the gender gap in access to productive resources constrains agricultural productivity.1 Other reports and organizations have also shown that control of land is important for women’s security, status, and bargaining power.2 The 2012 World Development Report recommends strengthening women’s land rights as an important action for improv- ing gender equality, a development objec- tive in its own right that will also enhance
productivity and development outcomes for the next generation.3 Currently, women are less likely to be
landholders than men. When women do have access to land, they usually cultivate smaller and less fertile holdings. According to the Gender and Land Rights database maintained by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, on average women account for less than 5 percent of agricultural landholders in West Asia and North Africa, 15 percent in Sub- Saharan Africa, and 25 percent in Latin America.4 But even this is an incomplete picture of legal status because landholding may not confer many rights to the female landholder. A recent study in Uganda sug- gests that, even when men and women reported holding land jointly, women were much less likely to have any documenta- tion in their name.5 This would make them susceptible to losing land rights if their husband decided to sell the land or if they were divorced or widowed. What can be done to strengthen
women’s land rights? In many develop- ing countries, legal reforms are often ignored if they run counter to customary law and practice. Therefore, reforming
the legal system is important but unlikely to have much effect on its own. The implementation of reforms such as removing restrictions on women's land ownership, making provisions for joint titling, and reforming family law so that women can inherit land and retain rights in case of divorce or widowhood requires attention and resources. This may involve offering legal literacy programs to inform administrators and judges, as well as the general public, about the reforms and working with customary authorities to discuss the importance of women’s land rights. Including women on local land administration committees can encourage them to register their land. An analysis in its early stages suggests that in Ethiopia’s land registration pro- cess, having more women on the local land committees increased attendance at meetings relating to land registration and raised awareness of the new family code that aims to strengthen women’s property rights.6 This and other studies show that improving women’s land rights should be done through multiple chan- nels, rather than through simple, one- step solutions.
goals will be difficult, but not impossible, to meet. The evidence presented here suggests several avenues for achieving a world with no land degradation. First, efforts to promote sustainable land
management need to improve local and national
governance while also enhancing interna- tional cooperation. Second, instead of focusing solely on fertilizer
subsidies, countries should use broader and more cost-effective incentives to encourage farmers to adopt integrated soil fertility management. ■
LAND DEGRADATION
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