Full citation: Padmanabhan, M.A. (2005). “Institutional Innovations Towards Gender Equity in Agrobiodiversity Management: Collective Action in Kerala, South India.” – This study compares two institutions of collective biodiversity management in Kerala, India. The traditional mechanisms of a scheduled tribe, the Kurichyas, are contrasted with the new institution of the People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) under the local form of governance, the panchayat. Collective action is analysed for the core variables of reputation, trust and reciprocity. In the tribal institutions, traditional seed exchange rests on reputation and gender complementarities, which are eroded by a diminishing degree of trust and dissolving property rights […]
Record Category: Research Articles
Improving Access to Land and Strengthening Women’s land rights in Africa
Full citation: Odeny, M. (2013). “Improving Access to Land and Strengthening Women’s land rights in Africa.” World Bank. – The need to improve access to land and strengthen women’s land rights in Africa has elicited a lot of discussion with women’s rights activists arguing for increased access and control over land and other productive resources. The paper examines inter-relations between women’s land rights and socio- economic development, peace and security and environmental sustainability in Africa. It goes on to highlight the impacts of the discrimination against women with regard to access, control and ownership of land and identifies promising practices […]
Land Rights Knowledge and Conservation in Rural Ethiopia: Mind the Gender Gap
Full citation: Quisumbing, A. and Kumar, N. (2014). “Land Rights Knowledge and Conservation in Rural Ethiopia: Mind the Gender Gap.” IFPRI. – This paper examines the community-based land certification effort in Ethiopia, an early successful attempt to implement a cost-effective and transparent land-registration process. It found that while the difference between male- and female-headed households’ proportions of land registered is small, there is a “glaring” gap in men’s and women’s knowledge of land rights and that educating women had significant impact on soil conservation. Using the 2009 round of the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey, the paper examines the medium-term impact […]
Is gender an important factor influencing user groups’ property rights and forestry governance? Empirical analysis from East Africa and Latin America
Full citation: Sun, Y., Mwangi, E. & Meinzen-Dick, R. (2011). “Is gender an important factor influencing user groups’ property rights and forestry governance? Empirical analysis from East Africa and Latin America.” International Forestry Review, Vol. 13 (2), pp. 205 – 219. – This article explores the effects that gender composition of forest user groups has on property rights and forestry governance, based on data from 290 forest user groups in Kenya, Uganda, Bolivia, and Mexico. It finds that while female-dominated groups tend to have more property rights to trees and bushes, and collect more fuelwood but less timber than do […]
Land in the Right Hands: Promoting Women’s Rights to Land
This paper summarizes several UN Women projects from 2004 to 2009 aimed at improving women’s land rights in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The key objective was to drive and boost positive changes in political, legal and public domains through mainstreaming gender in ongoing agrarian reforms and follow-up monitoring. One key set of programming was the provision of legal counseling, business training, and the establishment of cooperatives and self-help groups. Over 2002-2006 the number of women running farms in Tajikistan increased from 2 to 14 per cent. [Threats to Women’s Land Tenure Security and Effectiveness of Interventions – Annotated Bibliography]
Learning from a ‘paralegals’ intervention to support women’s property rights in Uganda
Full citation: Patel, P. Douglas, Z., and Farley, K. (2014). “Learning from a ‘paralegals’ intervention to support women’s property rights in Uganda.” ICRW. – This paper analyzes an ICRW and Uganda Land Alliance program to establish and build the capacity of a legal rights worker organization in Luwero District, Uganda. The program aimed to support women’s property rights by training a group of male and female community members to become legal rights workers. Referred to as “paralegals”, these legal rights workers provide legal advice, mediation services, and education about WPR and other property rights issues to people in their communities. […]
Towards Customary Legal Empowerment in Namibia: Enhancing gender equality in customary justice systems
Full citation: Ubink, J.M. (2011). “Towards Customary Legal Empowerment in Namibia: Enhancing gender equality in customary justice systems.” International Development Law Organisation. – In Namibia, national authorities have made various interventions aimed at enhancing the functioning of customary law and traditional leadership. These efforts include both the creation of institutional linkages as well as community-based activities. One issue has been the position of women under customary law, and especially the fact that widows often have no rights to their deceased husbands’ lands. At a workshop, the traditional leaders present unanimously decided that widows should not be chased from their lands […]
Empowering Widows: An Overview of policies and programmes in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka
Full citation: UN Women. (2014). “Empowering Widows: An Overview of policies and programmes in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.” – This paper finds that strengthening engagement with civil society in the implementation of government programs results in a more enabling environment for widows to claim services, including land rights. Focus group discussions in India and Nepal showed that widows who were a part of this collaborative effort were more articulate, confident and aware of their rights. This played an important role in helping them claim their entitlements, including land rights. In Sri Lanka, widows have been able to take advantage […]
Property Rights and Women’s Accumulation of Assets Over the Life Cycle: Patrimonial Violence in Ecuador
Full citation: Deere, Carmen Diana, Jackeline Contreras and Jennifer Twyman. 2010. Property Rights and Women’s Accumulation of Assets Over the Life Cycle: Patrimonial Violence in Ecuador. ALASRU Nueva época. Análisis latinoamericana del medio rural, No. 5, 2010: 135-176. – This study looks at the recognition of women’s property rights in practice in Ecuador. One finding is that women may accumulate property in two ways, as individual property and as community property. While individual property, generally acquired through an inheritance, provides a fall back position, community property in marriage or unions has special benefits. Joint property compensates women for their work and […]
Gender and Land: Good Practices and Lessons Learned from Four Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact Funded Land Projects
Full citation: Giovarelli, R., Hannay, L., Scalise, E., Richardson, A., Seitz, V. and Gaynor, R. (2015). “Gender and Land: Good Practices and Lessons Learned from Four Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact Funded Land Projects.” Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights. – This paper looks at four MCC projects that involved titling land in Benin, Lesotho, Mali, and Namibia and how they ensured women’s rights to land were recognized. It finds that it is important to consider both formal and customary laws and provides examples of both; that it is important to identify all property rights holders, regardless of the overarching objectives […]