While the majority of women in Sub-Saharan Africa and particularly Eastern Africa provide a living for their families on land, they largely do not own it. This comprises one part of a study on women and land in five countries in Eastern Africa - and was commissioned by the Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI).

In a globalising world where the role of the local, the national and the global is shifting, the meanings of citizenship are also changing. This article presents some new theoretical discussions on gender and citizenship. It argues that, rather than something which sees everyone as "the same", citizenship should be understood as multi-tiered and formed through many different positions according to gender, ethnicity and urban/rural location.

How have Egyptian feminists promoted women's rights? This paper looks at the Egyptian Feminist Union (EFU) in the fight for women's right to vote in Egypt in the early twentieth century. The EFU had much in common with the international women's movement then mobilising around women's right to vote. The IWSA represented the basis for an 'international sisterhood', where the EFU's goals were in line with other feminist organisations that came together under the IWSA.

This study aims to identify how women's capacity to become more involved in decision-making at the local level can be strengthened, particularly in terms of access to natural resources. It also aims to identify the structures through which women secure their systems of production. It focuses on the situation in Niger, where women are increasingly excluded from dominant systems of production: in agricultural areas, they are increasingly excluded from agricultural production and in pastoralist areas, they have lost their herds and had to resort to agriculture.

Women's employment in transition countries, notably Central and Eastern Europe has become increasingly informal and flexible. The first growing trend is that women are more involved in cross-border trade, known as 'suitcase' trade, often keeping women away from home for days or months. They buy mainly consumer and household goods usually unavailable in their home countries, to sell to street vendors on their return home. The second growing trend is women's involvement in sub-contracting, particularly work such as hand sewing for the textile and shoe industries.

Are women's equal rights to land, housing and property implemented in East Africa? How are land rights translated into national legislation in the Region? This books explores land, housing and property rights in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, and looks at how relevant international treaties are transformed into national legislation and policies in these three countries. A detailed analysis of constitutions and laws on land, housing, inheritance, marriage and divorce laws is also offered.

The Integrated Drylands Development Programme (IDDP) is a global UNDP initiative to promote sustainable development in the drylands, and advance the implementation of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. This topic brief highlights the important role that gender plays in this context of sustainable development, in particular the role of women in the Arab States and Africa. In these regions, inequality and stereotypical gender norms often prevent women from contributing to the sustainable development of drylands, despite possessing a wealth of traditional knowledge and skills.

How does the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) affect the livelihoods of rural women in Asia? This paper, prepared on the occasion of the WTO-AOA review in 2003, analyzes the impact of the new trading rules imposed by the WTO on Asian peasants. It illustrates the inherent imbalances in the WTO-AOA's trade liberalisation policies which, among other things, flood local markets with highly subsidized agricultural imports from developed countries to the detriment of domestic agriculture.

Women do 70 per cent of the agricultural work in Senegal, but according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), own only two percent of the land that may be cultivated. Although property laws in countries such as Senegal, Tunisia and Burkina Faso recognise women' s and men's equal rights, and Islam gives women the right to inherit half what men inherit, in practice men retain land ownership. Women are dependent on fathers or husbands for land.

This economic literacy pack, the third in this series, is a tool for educating local women's constituencies on trade rules and negotiations. It explores four main themes, firstly 'How the WTO Treats National Health Emergencies in the Rubric of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)'. This section demonstrates how the agreement protects the patent interests of private pharmaceutical firms based in developed countries, while jeopardizing the public health of the poor in developing countries.

Malawi is facing increasing land scarcity and food insecurity for its large rural population and is in the midst of an on-going land policy reform process. This report asks how these reforms may affect women's land rights in a situation of increasing scarcity and competition for land. Reforms include the formalisation of customary land rights as private land rights as a way to ensure tenure security and equitable access to land. It warns that through this approach, women's rights may become increasingly marginalised.

Aboriginal women in Canada are at the forefront of resistance when it comes to threats to their land and culture. This is the conclusion of this study, which examines the links between Aboriginal women, protest and human security. The study shows that restrictions on fishing rights, expansion in logging, and ski-resort development are being fiercely fought by Aboriginal women. They stand in front of trains, blockade roads and mobilise demonstrations and this often results in clashes with authorities and police violence. Aboriginal women both use and challenge their gender roles.