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Gender related differences in land allocation and tenure and their

implications

Sariyev Orkhan

Matrikel-Nr: 623775

Paper prepared within “Rural Development Policies and Institutions” module

M4901- 430 Seminar Paper

Supervisor: M.Sc. Alexander Nimo Wiredu

30.06.15 (updated in 09.08.15)

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Abstract

Women play an essential role in agriculture. They constitute substantial part of agricultural

labor. When it comes to gaining land rights they face many challenges. In most cases it is

society, religion and other factors that create challenges for them. In many countries there are

laws supporting rights of women, but implementations are always problematic. Customary

tenure system is another factor creating gender related differences in land tenure. There are

current and possible future implications of men favoring land allocation and tenure systems

which have direct effects on poverty, spread of HIV and AIDS, food insecurity, women’s

inability to access credits and etc...

Keywords: gender, land allocation, land tenure, rights

Introduction

“More than 3 billion people –almost half of the world’s population –live in rural areas”

(FAO, 2013, p.1). Agriculture is the main source of employment and income generation in

rural areas. Land is an essential asset in agriculture. Rural people need to have access to be

able to produce, supply food for their family and generate revenue for other expenses. In most

rural areas, people highly depend on agriculture and access to the land and its ownership

determines their economic and social status. There is a general notion that women do not own

land rights as much as men do, whereas, they constitute substantial share of agricultural

workers and are engaged in almost every levels of agricultural activities. The Food and

Agricultural Organization of United Nations (2013) notes that women make significant

contribution to rural economies, but they suffer from reliance on men in order to access

productive resources. Differences in allocation and tenure of land depend on location, society,

religion and some other factors. In many rural areas, women’s access to the land is through the

relationship they hold with men. They work and produce in the lands of their relatives and/or

husbands. In many societies, parents bequeath land inheritance to their son. Thus, FAO

(2011) states that there is documented gender related difference in access to productive

resources.

This paper reviews different literatures and statistics to analyze the level of gender

related difference in allocation and tenure of land. Moreover, we will look into its

implications. First part discusses the role of women and their importance in agriculture, their

share in agricultural labor and importance in many household activities. Secondly, general

information about land allocation and tenure is given and thirdly, the gender related

differences in land allocation and tenure is provided and examples are brought from many

different case studies to support the point. Lastly, current and possible future implications of

current land allocation and tenure systems are discussed. Main attention is given on poverty

reduction, spread of HIV and ADIS, food security, women’s access to credit and etc.

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Women in Agriculture

Women play an essential role in the development of agriculture and rural economies

from different perspectives that will be analyzed in this paper. According to FAO (2011), in

rural areas, women maintain praiseworthy share of labor force in farm level activities and they

are mostly asset-poor. In Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern and Southeastern Asia, female labor

constitutes respectively around 48% and 46% of the total agricultural labor force. Female

workers comprise 43% of total agricultural workers in developing countries. The share of

female workers in total agricultural labor force has shown an increasing trend over the last

decade.

In Figure 1, we can observe the share of female employment in agriculture for

countries with highest values in 2010. As can be seen from Figure 1, share of female workers

in agricultural sector is pretty high in some countries and those countries like Pakistan and

India are important agricultural countries of the world. We need to consider that there are

some agricultural activities like weeding performed only by women and children in most of

the rural areas. Thus, importance of women in agriculture is emphasized once more.

Figure 1. Female employment by sectors (2010)

In general women, who want to work, face more obstacles than men because of

different societal and religious factors. For example, in Nigerian society women are accorded

a low status; in some parts of world it is believed that their physical capacity is not enough to

work (Uwakwe, 2004). However, women are engaged in same activities like men but, for

most, it is more difficult for women to access resources, services and markets than it has been

for men. From this point of view, we can assume that female farmers are more likely to be

poor. According to the analysis conducted by FAO (2011), it holds true for some countries but

it is other way around in others. Thus, there is no general consensus that female-headed

households are poorer than male-headed households.

In rural areas, women take care of children, prepare food and work in the farm.

Therefore, it can be seen that, women invest a lot of their time on household activities.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Pakistan India Bhutan Cameroon Cambodia Albania Liberia

Source: World Bank, 2015

*For Pakistan, statistics of 2011

Agriculture

Service and industry

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However, it can also be observed that there is a somewhat equal distribution of labor forces

between male and female workers in agricultural employment. Women invest as much (even

more in some regions) time into household activities as men which shall inform us about the

gender equality in this case. Nevertheless, there is documented gender gap in different aspects

of agriculture, to be precise, in access to productive resources (FAO, 2011).

Land allocation and tenure in agriculture

Land is an essential asset for every household and it is a scarce resource. The world is

facing a population growth which results in decreasing land area per capita. Agricultural land

accounts for 12 percent of total land area and it has a little horizon for expansion.

Considerable part of potential agricultural land is covered by forests (FAO, 2013). Land is a

factor of production which is permanent but limited. Land abundant countries with good soil

fertility, irrigation system and climate conditions can easily be productive from agricultural

point of view. Developed agriculture means having better living standards in both rural and

urban areas. Empowering rural people will eradicate poverty. Land is very important factor of

production for people in rural areas. Especially, agriculture is the only source of employment

and revenue generation in rural areas of many developing countries (United Nations, 2015).

Rural people with limited access to land are worse off. Importance of land in agriculture is

obvious; one basically cannot be agriculturally productive without access to land. If rural

people do not have an access to land, they will neither produce nor supply food for their

families.

Figure 2. Agricultural area as a share of total land area in the World

In Figure 2, trends in agricultural area as a share of total land area between years of 2001 and

2011 are shown. Until 2010, share of agricultural area is declining and there is 0.80% increase

in 2011. Land is becoming scarcer every other year and obviously, those who want to acquire

land face high level of competition along with other different problems like corruption, land

grab and etc. It is even more problematic issue for rural women. Gender disparities in land

allocation are present across regions. FAO (2013) notes that in North Africa and Western

37,20%

37,40%

37,60%

37,80%

38,00%

38,20%

38,40%

38,60%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Source: FAO, 2015

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Asia, female agricultural holders account for less than 5 percent of total agricultural holders

and men usually have larger areas than women.

Land scarcity also leads to conflicts. As a solution to such conflicts societies need to

have a well-established land tenure system. FAO (2015) define land tenure as “a relationship,

whether legally or customarily defined, among people, as individuals or groups with respect to

land” (para. 1). It plays an important role in political, economic and social structures. Land

tenure is categorized in (I) private where rights are assigned to an individual, (II) communal in

which land is assigned to community and all members have a right to benefit, (III) open access

which means that no rights are assigned and no one can exclude anyone, and (IV) state where

some authority from public sector has the property rights (FAO, 2015). In addition, one can

basically define land allocation as the allocation of land to the individuals and/or communities.

Gender related differences in land allocation and tenure

In most of the developing countries (primarily in least developed countries) women are

regarded as a member of weak gender that needs to be under the protective hands of their

husbands or relatives. In those countries and societies, men have strong influence on decision

making in household level. In African countries, men are considered as the head of family and

when it comes to the land allocation, the family land is allocated to men by the authorities.

Men gain property rights over land and this situation leads to the reduction of land tenure

security for woman (Daley & Englert, 2010). This situation holds the same in most of Islamic

countries. It is claimed that basic gender policy in land administration should support “secure

access to land and other natural resources for women, independent of men relatives and

independent of their civil status” (World Bank, 2009, p 126).

In general, women face two kinds of threats in land tenure: internal and external

threats. External threats can be regarded as a third party who is able to exclude users by

gaining property rights, although he/she has had no relation to the land. Internal threat could

be someone in the family who is able to exclude women from access to the land (Ikdahl,

2008). Thus, we generate the idea that women face a lot more challenges than men do when it

comes to the land allocation and tenure.

Women are insecure when it comes to their rights over land. One of the several factors

contributing to this insecurity is the HIV/AIDS. This is especially common in Africa where

husbands or fathers sell off the family land without the knowledge of women in the family to

cover their costs of treatment. This leads to the growing number of women left without land.

This situation leaves women with no access to the land and in long term, without any

possibility of land allocation to the women in the family (Daley & Englert, 2010). This

situation can also be seen as a result of poor land tenure system. In many countries of Africa,

land reforms favored male landowners. Poor land reforms allocated land to the men and this in

its turn, led men to have property rights over land and use the right to sell for their personal

benefits. Thus, the reason of this situation can be seen as poor land allocation policy where

land is allocated to man and the result is loss of women’s ability to gain property rights over

family land in the future. Both reason and result cause to gender related differences in land

allocation. Another example is from Tanzania which is reported by Ikadahl (2008). In his

paper, he mentions that when there is a conflict in the family, wives claim their name to be

included to the residential license from officials and they get an answer of “go home and clear

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the conflict”. Women in Tanzania report that officials normally do not want to deal with such

conflicts (Ikdahl, 2008).

Land is a very basic asset for every household to be able to farm and meet their needs.

That is why, access to the land and its ownership is very crucial for women farmers. Land is a

very essential asset for women to support their families, provide needed nutrition and income

(Bread for the World, 2012). There is limited data availability in this issue, one reason being

that, there are different understandings about land ownership in different regions and societies,

because of these difficulties there are different claims about the share of women landholders.

FAO (2015) mentions the limited data availability and states that less than one quarter of

agricultural land is operated by women. Gaining property rights over land is a very

problematic issue in many developing countries. As an example, in India, the only situation

for married woman to be able to own and control land is if she becomes a widow who does not

have any son and there are no male relatives of husband around (Doss et al., 2014).

As there is limited data availability about the share of women who owns land and in

addition, because of polemics about the generation of those available statistic results, here in

this paper, in Figure 3, list of countries with available data are presented by analyzing two

different sources. As a matter of fact, these countries from available statistical analysis are

those with the highest share of woman land owners. Thus, the top 15 is listed. Two countries

out of 15 have a share of women land owners more than 40 %. It is observed that in seven

countries, share of allocated to woman is less than 25%. These statistics demonstrate that share

of woman land owners is relatively low.

Figure 3. Woman landowners (percentage of female landowners out of total landowners)

0,0% 10,0% 20,0% 30,0% 40,0% 50,0% 60,0%

Bangladesh (2011-2012)

Ecuador (2010)

Ghana (2010)

Haiti (2001)

Honduras (2004)

Mexico (2002)

Nicaragua (2005)

Paraguay (2001-2002)

Peru (2000)

Tajikistan (2007)

Vietnam (2004)

Botswana (2004)

Ethiopia (2004)

South Africa (2009)

Uganda (2001)

Sources: FAO, 2015

Doss et al., 2013

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It is critical to mention that in some countries and even in societies within one country

women could be regarded as land owners if they have an access to the land. It is not important

if they actually own the land or not. If women use the land to produce and feed their family

and sell any remaining surplus, it means that they have access to the land (Doss et al, 2014). In

those countries and societies, it might actually mean that they are land owners. Thus, in reality

these numbers in Figure 3 may be even lower than showed. It is clear that female land owners

have obviously low share. Thus, high level of gender related inequality is observed in land

allocation in most of the developing countries.

Many nations accepted that there are gender related differences in their land allocation

and tenure systems. For example, during 1980s and 1990s, most Latin American countries

made reforms to secure rights of women in land allocation and tenure. Similarly, African and

Asian countries passed formal legislations for the same purpose. However, these are not

sufficient actions. Enforcement of these laws still remains problematic. The reasons behind

these are institutional weaknesses and influence of gender bias. Although, laws may equalize

the land rights for women and men, other laws like family laws, can create the problem

(World Bank, 2009).

Distribution of Agricultural land area by sex for different countries of Asia and Africa

is presented in Table 1. This table provides information about how much of the agricultural

land is allocated to women and the share owned by men. Table 1 shows that in none of the

countries women have higher share than men. Thus, land is mostly allocated to men. In case of

3 countries out of 9, more than 85% of land is solely owned by men and almost in all

countries, less than 20% of land is allocated solely to women.

Countries/Sex Years % Male % Female %Joint

ly

owned

Bangladesh 2011-12 87.7 10.1 2.2

Ethiopa 2011-12 45 15 39

Malawi 2010-11 42 40 18

Niger 2011 62 9 29

Nigeria 2010 87 4 9

Tajikistan 2007 85.7 14.3 NA

Tanzania 2010-11 44 16 39

Uganda 2009-10 34 18 48

Vietnam 2004 71.8 15.4 12.8

Source: FAO, 2015

Table 1. Distribution of Agricultural Land area by sex

One can generate the result that gender related differences both in allocation and tenure

of land is obviously present. To highlight this point, during 1990s, in Vietnam, government

issued Land Tenure Certificates (LTC) where they issued long term rights to land to the head

of the family who was almost always a man. However, those lands were marital property, and

men gained certificates. Men have used their rights to transfer the land without the knowledge

of their spouses. In addition, in case of divorce, men use the rights given through LTC and

refuse to divide the co-owned land which results in women’s loss of land access (World Bank,

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2002 cited in (Brown, 2003). World Bank (2002) in their journal article mentions the words of

one land owner man reported by Hoa Thi Mong Pham (Operations Officer):

One man said that his wife complains all the time that the LTC seems to have no value

when he is absent and the family needs to borrow some money from the bank. He said

that women here play very important roles but the LTC doesn’t provide adequate

conditions for them (Hao Thi Mong Pham cited in World Bank, 2002).

In many countries, cultural and legal norms favors men and women gain access to the

land only via their relationships to opposite sex. These norms dictate men as the owner of land

and favors men when land tenure is determined. In this case, men have a possibility to convert

the land into private asset. This happens when there is scarcity of land. For example, in Kenya,

in a situation of becoming a widow:

Women may not only lose the use rights to their husband’s land but will also most

likely be unable to claim temporary use rights to birth family land because their

brothers will claim individual and private rights to the land they inherit from their

fathers (World Bank, 2009, p. 128).

In addition, World Bank (2009) mentions that “customary societies have different

practices with regard to property acquired during marriage” (p. 129). This is a joint property

and still daughters and wives can be excluded from ownership. Men assumed as a sole owners

of the property just because of the belief that women are not capable of owning land. This is a

very dangerous customary practice from gender equality point of view in land allocation and

tenure.

Another example is from Indonesia where the land ownership of women is broadly

recognized by land legislation. Again, the question is not the law but its implementation. The

law allows the registration of land in more than one person’s name. Especially, land bought

during marriage is considered as marital property of both man and woman and should have

been registered on the names of both. However, conducted researches showed that 70% of

land registered in the names of men and almost 30% in the names of women. Sadly, less than

1% is registered in more than one person’s name. In addition, that 30% registered in the names

of women is mostly inherited from family and just a little of it, is the land purchased with her

husband. There is an obvious lack of registration in couples’ names although it is recognized

and supported by land legislation (Brown, 2003). Further research conducted in Indonesia,

analyzes the Land Titling under the Land Administration Project (LAP). This research shows

percentage of husband and wife names on lands purchased jointly by husband and wife after

marriage. It shows that 70.9% of names on LAP certificates belong to husband, 16.9% to wife,

3.0% to husband and wife and the rest to others like daughter, son grandson, and

granddaughter (SMERU, 2002).

In Africa, most of the land is still remained under customary tenure. There were a lot

of reforms implemented to reduce gender related differences in land allocation and tenure. In

most cases, implemented reforms mostly failed to achieve their aims. In most parts of Africa,

as the result of customary tenure, land was dominantly allocated to men and transferred

through generation. Only possibility for women to gain access to the land was through their

relations to male owners. Within this system women are found disadvantaged (Meinzen-Dick

et.al,1997). In sub-Saharan Africa specifically, countries recognize the customary tenure

system. Cultural barriers over women’s land ownership are more dominant than the laws

passed during reforms for supporting women’s right in land allocation and tenure (World

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Bank, 2009). From personal experience, this holds the same in Islamic countries. Son of the

family ensures the continuation of dynasty and that is why property rights over land are

transferred to the male child of the family in most of the cases. After marriage woman have

access to husband’s land and until marriage they work as a family worker in the field of their

father and/or brothers. In most case, they gain the property rights over land in a situation of

husband’s unexpected death and ironically, those women allocate the land to their male

children for the same purpose mentioned above. World Bank (2009) mentions that in

Uzbekistan and Macedonia, women inherit some family land according to the Muslim norms,

but they acknowledge their rights over land to brother just to evade conflicts and thus, remain

backing of family. In addition, women in the family might not persist on including their names

on land title, just because it could result in conflict with husband and their family.

In South Asia, if marriage ends, women simply face evictions and they are not

welcome to the households of their brothers, either. In addition, women are excluded from

traditional institutions like village council. This directly results in their loss of defending their

rights in land allocation and tenure, because those institutions are usually the ones that discuss

and take actions about land allocation and tenure (Heinrich Boell Foundation Southern Africa,

2013). Another institutional problem is observed in Tanzania where women report that “before

you have a title, the government can take the area for any purpose, they can just change the

use” (Ikdahl, 2008, p 45). Thus, in this case, state itself is a threat.

Above mentioned facts and statistics from different countries where people who have

different religious beliefs and cultural norms show that there is high level of gender related

differences in land allocation and tenure. In all cases women seemed to be disadvantageous. It

is very problematic issue to collect date about gender bias in land allocation, but one can

easily realize by the help of different conducted researches that most of the land is owned by

men and land allocation and tenure system in developing countries favor men. We already

discussed and mentioned some of the reasons behind the gender differences in allocation and

tenure of land and further we will discuss its implications.

Implications

The UN Task Team Report (2012) mentions that land is very critical in supporting

small scale farming which is directly related to the agricultural growth and poverty reduction.

It is especially important for women who depend only on farming activities for their

livelihoods.

We already discussed different case studies from different parts of the world. In

general, we observe that because of cultural norms, customary tenure systems, unsatisfactory

implementation of laws and other factors discussed in the previous part, women do not gain

property rights over land and as a further consequence they lose their access to the land. This

results in their loss of farming and income generation.

Women can also suffer from land grabs. Although, in general, women have less control

and access to the land than men do, they can be the first victims of land grab. In this case,

social status and relations will determine how vulnerable woman is to the potential land grab

(Doss et al, 2014). As we discussed in the previous part, third parties can gain the property

rights over land if the woman is vulnerable.

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Women play an essential role in food security. Women transfer food into nutrition,

while men may not be able to do so (World Bank, 2009). Thus, when there is no land tenure

security for women headed households, this result in food insecurity. Quisumbing et al. (1995)

states that “Women are the key to food security for their households”. It is indicated that

women spend more on food and to the needs of children than men do (Quisumbing et al.

(1995) cited in (World Bank, 2009)). Thereby, land tenure insecurity for women and

allocation of land to man may result in higher child malnutrition and high child mortality rate.

If women have no access to the land it will directly impact children - the future generation. It

will affect the future in which children would be able to grow up healthy and well-nourished.

From this point of view, insecure land rights of women may have its implications on child

malnourishment.

In rural areas, development specialists search for households that have direct access to

the land with secure land rights which in its turn supports access to agricultural support

services (Quisumbing and Meinzen-Dick, 2001). In this case, women who do not own

property rights over land are left without support. If we consider that most of the lands in rural

areas are owned by men, then it has considerable implications on women’s access to

development specialists.

Basically, land can be collateral for credit, base for food production, factor for

investment and it can benefit women in many other different ways. It is important for

women’s economic empowerment. It is stated that “Land is a social asset that is crucial for

cultural identity, political power and participation in decision making” (Swedish International

Development Cooperation Agency Sida, 2011, p.2). Thus, gender related differences in land

allocation and its tenure will prevent women to be able to participate in decision making

process which will have same future consequences. Loss of political power for women can

threat the overall gender equality and economic growth in any country. Land serves also as

collateral for credit. Dawson (2013) states that without tenure women cannot access credit and

that is why, they are unable to invest and increase productivity which results in their

vulnerability to displacement. In addition, Worldwatch Institute (2013) emphasizes that when

women have access to the resources like credit they invest more in the nutrition education and

health of their family. Thereby, one can easily come to the result that current level of gender

related differences in allocation and tenure of land has implications on productivity, access to

credit and malnutrition.

The ability of feeding their families is very important but severely limited for rural

women. Rural women lack opportunities to access market and productive resources and it has

many different consequences. They are more disadvantaged in comparison with men when it

comes to HIV and AIDS. Usually, women are more vulnerable and they are more affected

than men by HIV and AIDS when there is an illness or death in the family. HIV is much

common in women than in men across the world and secured women rights over land are very

crucial in reducing AIDS (ActionAid International, 2008). Thus, gender related differences

and men favoritism in land allocation and tenure could even increase the spread of HIV and

AIDS and could take a chance of fighting it through women’s rights over land. In addition, if

we take these facts into consideration, current level of HIV and AIDS dissemination could be

reflection of current gender related differences in land allocation and tenure systems.

Land fosters social reproduction in rural areas. When women have access to the land

they are safe and they have an intensive to invest in long term activities (ActionAid

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International, 2008). Thereby, using these ideas one can generate the outcome that with gender

related difference in allocation and tenure of land favoring men, women’s economic and social

power is diminishing. It affects social reproduction in rural areas, because as ActionAid

International (2008) mentions: “Land provides a place to stay and to raise children, and is

therefore important for social reproduction in rural areas” (p. 16). In addition, insecure land

rights have direct impact on violence against women. International Center for Research on

Women (2006) states: “Women who own land or a house are at significantly lower risk of

physical and psychological violence both long-term and current” (p. 11).

In rural areas, landless people are vulnerable and there is a high chance of famine and

high infant mortality rate for them. If we consider that women have higher possibility to be

landless than men, then there chances of famine and high mortality rate is even higher than

men. Women have a high chance to suffer from different shocks when their rights over land

are interposed through men. Secure land rights decreases women’s risks and improves well-

being and prospect of children (Quisumbing and Meinzen-Dick, 2001). Quisumbing and

Meinzen-Dick (2001) mentions that “Poverty is inversely correlated with household land

ownership” (p. 2). From this idea, I come to the conclusion that another important implication

of gender differences in land tenure and allocation is on poverty. Insecure land rights lead

women to poverty and may increase the share of people falling below poverty line.

In conclusion, I come to the result that gender related differences in land allocation and

tenure has many undesirable implications. It has adverse impacts on poverty reduction, food

security and as well as fight against HIV and AIDS. Child malnourishment and their low level

of education, women’s access to credit, social reproduction and famine can also be regarded as

effects of current gender related differences in allocation and tenure of land. In addition one

surely can mention that elimination of gender related differences can positively affect above

mentioned implications.

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