Expanding Women's Access to Land and Housing in Urban Areas

Evidence is mounting that secure
property rights have positive effects for poor people in
general and women in particular. The aim of this report is
to review what is known about women s access to and control
over land and real property in urban settings, identifying
approaches to strengthening property rights that enhance
women s agency, and sharing key lessons. Section two
synthesizes the evidence on urban women s priorities with
respect to land and housing; the factors that influence
women s access to and control over land and secure tenure,
including legal and institutional frameworks and social
relationships, especially within the family; and what is
known about the extent to which women have access to,
control over and use of urban land and housing, and through
what forms of tenure. In section three, recent reform of
laws, policies and practices to meet the needs of poor
people in urban areas, especially women, will be assessed.
Section four provides a short discussion of some of the
strategies, tactics and alliances that are being adopted to
bring about legal reforms and to influence the content,
design and implementation of programs in urban areas. The
report draws on successive research projects by the author
and her colleagues on land and housing markets and policies,
urban livelihoods, and urban politics and governance in a
variety of contexts, in particular Rakodi (2010).