Gender Issues in Land Policy and Administration

Land is a critical asset, especially for the urban and rural poor. Land rights act as a form of economic access to key markets as well as a form of social access to nonmarket institutions, such as the household relations and community-level governance structures, and confer rights to other local natural resources, such as trees, pasture, and water.

On average, men’s land holdings were almost three times the women’s landholdings. This compromised land access leads women to make suboptimal decisions with regard to crop choices and to obtain lower yields than would otherwise be possible if household resources were allocated efficiently. The basic gender policy within the context of land administration should promote secure access to land and other natural resources for women, independent of men relatives and independent of their civil status. Legal reforms need to take into account multiple-use rights to land, particularly women’s rights, as well as the different means by which women gain access to land, including divorce and inheritance systems.