Strengthening women's inheritance and property rights can be an effective means of decreasing poverty and increasing gender equality, and thereby accelerating progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This paper presents two case studies from Rwanda and Ethiopia to illustrate the potential impact that advocacy, legislative reform and law enforcement in this area can have on the achievement of the MDGs in developing countries.

Strengthening women's inheritance and property rights can be an effective means of decreasing poverty and increasing gender equality, and thereby accelerating progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This paper presents two case studies from Rwanda and Ethiopia to illustrate the potential impact that advocacy, legislative reform and law enforcement in this area can have on the achievement of the MDGs in developing countries.

This paper - from the International Food Policy Research Institute - strives to introduce a discussion of the gender dimensions into the growing debate on large-scale land deals.

When reading about women in pastoral societies it is common to find reference to their marginalised roles, their hardship, their oppression and their lack of power as opposed to men’s domination, men’s ownership, men’s power and associated patriarchal relations.

This report presents strategies of grassroots women's organisations in Eastern and Southourn Africa in working toward land tenure security, including home-based care and counselling, increased participation of women in government bodies, raising awareness about land issues, providing support for women's legal procedures, increasing economic security through skill development and microcredit loans as well as leadership development. The report concludes by giving some recommendations for increased effectiveness and scope for these grassroots activities.

This study documents women’s aspirations in relation to land in Kibaale district, Uganda. The study was designed to identify the gaps between those aspirations and the current reality, the actions required for their achievement, and the implications of those actions. Based on qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, information was gathered from 60 women belonging to the two villages, Nyanacumu and Kanywamiyaga, in the sub-county of Muhorro in Kibaale district. Researchers used appreciative inquiry, participant observation, narratives, focus groups, photos and video recording.

Traditionally, the land tenure system in Southern Ethiopia may be characterised by patrilineal inheritance and virilocal residence. Young girls have very little influence over when and whom to marry. Further, they have to go to a husband that their clan or family has identified for them, meaning that they after marriage move to the home of their new husband and inherit no land from their parents. Bride prices and dowries are commonly used, and girls are seen as the property of the husband and his clan. This also implies that if the husband dies, his wife is still the property of his clan.

This publication, from the Global Land Tool Network, presents a mechanism for effective inclusion of women and men in land tool development and outlines methodologies and strategies for systematically developing land tools that are responsive to both women and men’s needs. Equal property rights for women and men are fundamental to social and economic gender equality. However, women often face discrimination in formal, informal and customary systems of land tenure.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) - currently ratified by 187 countries - is the only human rights treaty that deals specifically with rural women (Art. 14). Adopted in 1979 by the United Nations Generally Assembly, entered into force in 1981. The Convention defines discrimination against women as follows:

This report is the fruit of collaboration between ILC, IFAD and FAO. It provides information on the historical background of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol, the working methods of the Committee, reservations, as well as a summary of information provided in reports of selected countries.

In 2004, FAO, IFAD, and the International Land Coalition (ILC) jointly published a report on progress towards the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), with respect to the status of rural women. This report provided an historical background to CEDAW and its Optional Protocol (OP 1999) as well as an overview on land issues as reflected in the reports submitted by States Parties.