WORLD BANK GROUP GENDER THEMATIC POLICY NOTES SERIES: EVIDENCE AND PRACTICE NOTE WHY LAND AND PROPERTY RIGHTS MATTER FOR GENDER EQUALITY VICTORIA STANLEY AND JENNIFER LISHER OVERVIEW Securing women’s rights, access to, and control over housing, land, and property (HLP) are important for livelihood generation, food security, a store of wealth, and other economic benefits. Ensuring women’s HLP rights also provides social benefits, such as improved bargaining power within the household and community. Data on women’s rights to HLP is limited, but available evidence from 53 countries shows that within those countries, over 70 percent of women do not own any land. Without action, women are at risk of being left farther behind. This policy note explores the barriers and impediments to women’s HLP rights. It shares emerging evidence on what works to support women in attaining the full range of HLP rights, including experience from World Bank and other donor- financed projects and interventions that have shown promise. Recommendations for development practitioners, policymakers, and women themselves include the following: • Continue to push for legal, regulatory, policy, and institutional reforms to allow for the full range of legal rights for women to access, own, transfer, bequeath, and inherit land. • Reform the default marital property regime to be community of property. • Recognize customary or traditional marriage as equal to civil marriage for ownership and registration of property or assets. • Consider implementing waiting periods during which an heir cannot renounce or reject her inheritance. • Include quotas for women’s participation in land governance structures. • Invest in public awareness and education campaigns with targeted messaging for women and girls and men and boys. • Focus on women’s land rights in operations that have systematic land registration and formalization, surveying and land regularization. • Ensure that women are part of adjudication committees, dispute resolution mechanisms, and other land management bodies. • Consider the needs of women when designing offices for land administration services. • Expand the research agenda to understand women’s rights to HLP in urban contexts, and the impacts of climate change and forced displacement on women’s rights to HLP. • Continue to collect gender-disaggregated data on rights to HLP, tenure security, and other aspects of land administration. Photo Credit: Nicaragua Land Administration Project - Proyecto de Ordenamiento de la Propiedad JULY 2023 TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION 1 IMPEDIMENTS TO WOMEN’S ACCESS, OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL OF LAND AND PROPERTY 4 IMPROVING WOMEN’S LAND ACCESS AND RIGHTS TO HLP 10 Legal, Regulatory, Policy, and Institutional Reform 10 Clarification and Formalization of Women’s Land Rights 12 Women and Collective Land Rights and Land Governance 16 RECOMMENDATIONS 18 Legal, Regulatory, Policy and Institutional Reform 18 Clarification and Formalization of Women’s Land Rights 18 Research and Data Collection 19 REFERENCES 20 This thematic policy note is part of a series that provides an analytical foundation to the World Bank Group Gender Strategy (2024–2030). This series seeks to give a broad overview of the latest research and findings on gender equality outcomes and summarizes key thematic issues, evidence on promising solutions, operational good practices, and key areas for future engagement on promoting gender equality and empowerment. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work are entirely those of the author(s). They do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank Group or its Board of Directors. This thematic policy note was written by Victoria Stanley and Jennifer Lisher with contributions from Joao Montalvao, Sandra Joireman, Zuzana Boehmova and Ariana Del Mar Grossi. The authors thank Arjola Limani and Ana Isabel Gren for their additional comments and support. The authors also wish to thank Helle Buchhave, Michael O’Sullivan and Paul Prettitore for their insightful peer-review, and Hana Brixi and Laura Rawlings for helpful inputs and comments. ii INTRODUCTION The World Bank Group’s Gender Strategy states that The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) also target “removing barriers to women’s ownership1 of and control women’s “ownership and control over land and other over assets” is a critical gender gap that must be addressed forms of property” as essential elements for achieving the to improve development outcomes. Land and housing are goals of poverty reduction and women’s empowerment. To key assets in facilitating this change. Securing women’s legal monitor progress on these targets, the SDGs track levels of rights and access to, and control over housing, land, and tenure security through legally recognized documentation property (HLP) are important for providing shelter, a home, and perception of tenure security (SDG 1.4.2) and the and an opportunity to be part of a community. They are prevalence and share of women with ownership or secure crucial as an asset for livelihood generation, food security, rights over agricultural land (SDG 5.a). a store of wealth, and other economic benefits. Data on women’s rights to HLP are limited, but available evidence from 53 countries shows that within those countries, over KEY DEFINITIONS: 70 percent of women do not own any land.2 Security of tenure is the certainty that a person’s Women’s secure tenure matters. Figure 1 illustrates that rights to housing, land, and property (HLP) will be strengthening women’s rights to HLP can lead not only to recognized by others and protected in cases of economic benefits (land value/agricultural productivity, specific challenges such as eviction. access to credit, off-farm income) but also social benefits (improved bargaining power within the household and Tenure systems (laws and institutions) regulate how community). Emerging evidence shows that strengthening individuals and groups gain access to HLP and the women’s rights to HLP can have positive impacts across a associated natural resources. range of outcomes, including the following: Tenure rights include full ownership rights, long- • Greater bargaining and decision-making power of women term use rights, as well as rights to lease, bequeath, (Melesse et al., 2018; Meinzen-Dick et al., 2019; inherit, sell, transfer, and others. Mookerjee, 2019) • Reduced domestic violence (Amaral, 2017; Peterman et al., 2017) • Increased consumption (Muchomba ,2017; Milazzo and Van de Walle, 2021) • Better child welfare (van der Meulen Rodgers and Kassens, 2018) 1  his note refers to “ownership” and “rights” broadly to incorporate title or freehold, as well as leasehold, long-term use rights, customary T rights, and collective rights. 2 Source: Gender Data Portal, which uses data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). 3 For more information see: Measures for Advancing Gender Equality (MAGNET 2021) 1 FIGURE 1. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR POTENTIAL EFFECTS OF THE FORMALIZATION OF WOMEN’S PROPERTY RIGHTS Source: World Bank: Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects, 2005; updated 2023 Historically, there has been limited empirical evidence on the causal impacts of strengthening women’s rights to HLP. However, recent impact evaluations have begun to capture how various land interventions result in direct and distinct benefits for women. These studies show that securing women’s rights to HLP resulted in higher decision-making power, agricultural investments (through soil conservation), and reallocations of off-farm labor. a) Decision making: In Lesotho’s peri-urban areas outside of Maseru, where the government conducted a systematic regularization program combined with substantial legal, policy, and institutional reforms, women-headed households experienced improvements in management and decision making over land,4 and their concerns over land conflict decreased5 (World Bank, 2022). In Benin, land use planning and demarcation of community customary lands improved decision-making power among married women and allowed women to stay on their land following their husband’s death (World Bank, 2019). 4  he evaluation showed women’s access to registered land rights substantially increased. Panel household survey data found an effect T on the share of parcels managed or controlled by female-headed households (defined by women involved in land use decisions) of a 11-percentage point effect compared to a control mean at a baseline of 35 percent. 5 Panel data showed female- headed household concerns over conflict decreased by 5 percentage points compared to those outside  the treatment areas, which researchers noted was significant compared to a control mean at a baseline of 5 percent. 2 b)  Agricultural investments: The Benin program also climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate resulted initially in increased land fallowing by Change 2022 report underscores the importance of women, as well as sustained increases in investment secure rights to HLP in urban and rural areas, including key in perennial crops by both men and women (World issues of women’s tenure rights (IPCC, 2022). Occupants of Bank, 2019). In Rwanda, a pilot land regularization informal settlements with limited or no tenure security are effort by the government resulted in women particularly exposed to climate risks given their substandard increasing their soil conservation investments6 housing and infrastructure and location in flood plains and (Ali et al., 2011). other environmentally sensitive areas. The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) recognizes that the c) Reallocation of off-farm labor: When Rwanda world “cannot achieve land degradation neutrality without rolled out the program nationally, both women and gender equality and equity” (UNCCD Gender Overview). In men reallocated farm labor to off-farm employment rural areas, women represent approximately 45 percent with similar gains in wage income (Ali et al., 2011). of the agricultural labor force. When women’s property In Ghana, land titling in peri-urban areas outside of rights are secure, they have more incentive to invest in Accra, combined with outreach targeted to women, climate smart agriculture as shown the findings from Benin resulted in a structural shift away from farming. and Rwanda. This included a substantial decrease in agricultural labor and a shift from larger sharecropped parcels This policy note explores the barriers and impediments to smaller purchased parcels. Women especially to women’s HLP rights and shares emerging evidence on benefitted through the transition to higher value what works to support women in attaining the full range off-farm labor7 and significantly larger profits (World of HLP rights. This includes operational experience from Bank, 2020). the World Bank and other donor-financed projects and interventions that have shown promise. It concludes Women’s secure rights to HLP also has a role in combatting with recommendations for development practitioners, climate change.8 Existing gender inequalities in access to policymakers, and women themselves on achieving legal, endowments, assets, voice, and agency result in gender regulatory, policy, and institutional reform; clarifying and differentiated impacts of natural disasters (Erman et al., formalizing women’s land rights; and advancing research 2021), which are made more frequent and extreme by and data collection. 6 Women increased soil conservation by 19 percent—nearly double that of men. 7  omen in treatment areas experienced a 10.4 percentage point increase in off-farm labor and a 98 cedis increase in monthly W profits compared to a control mean of 75 cedis in round 3 (conditional on operating a business). For men, the pooled impacts are not significant. 8 For more details, see the Thematic Policy Note on Placing Gender Equality at the Center of Climate Action  3 IMPEDIMENTS TO WOMEN’S ACCESS, OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL OF LAND AND PROPERTY The legal framework for land ownership and management Dick et al., 2002). When statutory laws on property rights and how it is implemented in practice can have a intersect with marital and inheritance practices, women significant impact on women’s rights to use, own, and are often left behind. For example, in many countries, the manage HLP assets. Women, Business, and the Law (WBL) concept of “head of the family” and the practice of passing data shows that 40 percent of countries still have laws down land from one generation to the next excludes that limit women’s asset rights and ownership in some women, both widows and daughters. way (see Figure 2). The Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa regions show the most Land may be state-owned, privately owned, collectively improvement over time, while Middle East and North owned, or owned and managed by customary rules and Africa region remains low and relatively flat. In addition, authorities. Each of these land systems has different the OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) 2023 rules that outline who can use, manage, and own land. benchmarking exercise on discriminatory social institutions Customary land tenure systems often allocate land to finds that laws or customary practices of 104 out of 179 a family. Women have subsidiary rights to use that land countries still deny women the same rights to access land for agriculture or other purposes and are dependent on as men, and only 74 countries accord women the same their relationship with the male head of household. If that inheritance rights as men, both in law and in practice. relationship changes due to marriage, divorce, widowhood, she may no longer have the same level of access. In The framework for women’s HLP rights is not only based countries where polygamy is practiced, it is critically on statutory law; it also relates to customs, traditions, important to understand the context and ensure that the and religious practices, which often lead to conflicting or HLP rights of all wives are recognized. overlapping jurisdictions and interpretations (Meinzen- FIGURE 2: WBL ASSETS INDICATOR - PROGRESS OVER TIME BY REGION Source: Women, Business and the Law Data Visualization 2023, https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/all-topics 4 Customary systems vary depending on whether the system orientation, gender identity, and gender expression (SOGI) if matrilineal or patrilineal9 and/or matrilocal or patrilocal.10 is prevalent globally and extends to various aspects of life, One study in Ghana finds that deceased husbands’ including inheritance and other rights to HLP (see Box 1). matrilineal lineages supported their widows, even though the children from such a marriage are not considered Administrative barriers limit women’s access to land to belong to the lineage. This suggests that matrilineal documents and land services. In many countries land lineages may provide stronger traditional safety nets for registration is a complex, time consuming, and costly widows (Kutsoati and Morck, 2016). process that can limit access for both men and women. However, women may face additional administrative Women face impediments to purchasing or inheriting barriers. This can be as simple as registration forms that land. Purchasing land can be difficult given lower levels of do not include space for a spouse’s name or lack of training female labor force participation and wages. In the case of for land registration staff on the importance of including inheritance, many traditional tenure systems, particularly women in the process and their names on forms (World patrilineal and patrilocal systems, limit women’s ability Bank, 2005). Land registration offices that are located far to inherit land. Religious practices may also limit how from home impact both men and women, but women much land and property a women can inherit. Even in may feel less comfortable and have less experience with situations where women do have secure tenure, it may be formal government offices. Other administrative barriers less complete, durable, or robust (Scalise and Giovarelli, can be culturally linked, such as taboos on women entering 2020), thereby limiting what women can do with their land offices alone or the need for women to have proof of property rights. In addition, discrimination based on sexual consent from male relatives to complete land transactions. 9 I n patrilineal systems, land is managed and inherited through the male line. In matrilineal systems land is inherited through the female line, although often the male relatives of the mother/wife are responsible for land management decisions. 10 In patrilocal systems, the married couple settle in the husband’s home or community. In matrilocal, the married couple settle in the  wife’s home or community. 5 BOX 1: LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER (LGBT) PEOPLE RIGHTS, ACCESS TO, AND CONTROL OVER HOUSING, LAND, AND PROPERTY Discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression (SOGI), prevalent globally, extends to various aspects of life, including housing and property rights. Growing evidence shows that social stigma, prejudice, and marginalization, which can result in LGBT people being ostracized from their families and communities, can make it challenging to access secure housing or inherit land. In some cases, explicit anti-LGBT legislation - or the lack of legal protections - can lead to biased practices by landlords, property owners, or authorities. The absence of legal remedies leaves LGBT individuals without recourse, vulnerable to housing-related exclusion. Given that LGBT people can experience violence at home, they can be deprived of familial support and social networks, increasing their risk of homelessness or insecure housing. Data shows that LGBT people often migrate from their hometowns in search of community and safety, typically to urban areas, leading to unique housing challenges. In some countries, laws and regulations explicitly exclude LGBT communities from accessing HLP rights. Legal frameworks may define ownership or inheritance rights in a way that excludes same-sex partners or transgender individuals, denying them the ability to legally acquire, own, or transfer HLP. Transgender people face significant barriers in obtaining legal recognition of their gender identity as registration processes may require alignment between available legal documentation and their SOGI. Even in the absence of explicit legal barriers, government officials, registry staff, community members, or development programs may still hold biases against LGBT individuals, denying them rights to HLP. Addressing these challenges will require a comprehensive approach that includes legal reforms, public awareness campaigns, capacity building, and targeted support services. Projects and technical assistance can be designed to promote inclusive policies, collect data on LGBT exclusion where it is missing, advocate for equal access for all, and raise awareness about the importance of providing safe and secure housing for all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Sources: World Bank Group. Life on the Margins: Survey Results of the Experiences of LGBTI People in Southeastern Europe. World Bank, 2018; Koehler, Dominik, Georgia Harley, and Nicholas Menzies. Discrimination against sexual minorities in education and housing: Evidence from two field experiments in Serbia. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 8504 (2018).; Yarwood, Vanessa; Checchi, Francesco et al. LGBTQI + Migrants: A Systematic Review and Conceptual Framework of Health, Safety and Wellbeing during Migration. Department of Global Health and Development, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London 2022; Laura Durso and Gary Gates, Serving Our Youth: Findings from a National Survey of Service Providers Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth Who Are Homeless or At Risk of Becoming Homeless. Los Angeles, The Williams Institute with True Colors Fund and The Palette Fund, 2012. The lack of identification documents (ID) can also Women’s time and labor constraints related to childcare impede women’s registration of HLP rights. Identification and household chores are an additional impediment to documents, marriage certificates and other official control over and use of land assets. Experimental work in documents are often necessary for formal registration of Benin shows that women must also perform more guard HLP rights. But women in lower income countries are eight labor to prevent expropriation and encroachment on land percentage points less likely than men to have an official that is less secure. Women reallocated more of their labor ID.11 Forcibly displaced women face these and other barriers than men to guard land that was less secure (Goldstein, et that restrict their access services and secure housing al., 2015). In Ghana, results of an impact evaluation show (see Box 2). that land registration did not translate into increased 11 ID4D global data set: https://id4d.worldbank.org/global-dataset 6 BOX 2: GENDER, PROPERTY, AND FORCED DISPLACEMENT According to UNHCR Global Trends in Forced Displacement 2020, 82.4 million people were forcibly displaced globally and 47 percent of the displaced are women and girls. Whether caused by fragility, conflict, or climate change, people are being displaced in large numbers and ending up in settled areas rather than camps. Forced displacement in urban contexts complicates women’s housing access and property ownership in multiple ways. Factors include informal and substandard housing; frequent eviction; dispute resolution around housing, land, and property; and loss of assets in their home community. The impediments to women owning and accessing land and property are magnified when women are forcibly displaced. Legal identification in their own names is vital for forcibly displaced women to access services and housing in urban settings (Hanmer et al., 2021; Rosenow-Williams & Behmer, 2015). Lack of identification, poverty, and insufficient local knowledge are barriers to adequate housing for displaced women, forcing them to live in substandard housing and informal settlements. Many informal settlements are in floodplains, swamps, or other environmentally fragile areas leading to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) impacts (UNICEF, 2019). Displaced people in general are less likely than their host community counterparts to have formal rental contracts (IDMC, 2015). In Somalia, for example, displaced women in urban areas feel insecure about their property rights and struggle to receive legal assistance through public and customary systems of dispute resolution (Syn, 2016). Once displaced women find housing, they are more likely to face eviction. This is the case across multiple countries and regions (Davis et al., 2019; IDMC, 2015). The vulnerability of displaced women to eviction can be extreme. In a survey of displaced Venezuelans in Colombia, 80 percent of whom were women, nearly 70 percent of them had received notifications of evictions (R4V, 2021). Lastly, displaced women and their children can lose assets in their home community because of limited property rights and a lack of documentation. There are insufficient avenues for compensation for those losses (Joireman and Tchatchoua-Djomo, 2023). Asset losses in the home community also impacts future livelihood options of children displaced with their families (Joireman, 2018). More research is needed to understand how best to support displaced women and girls, but the following measures can help: provide women with identification documents (even temporary); ensure that women are named on lease documents and included as co-beneficiaries in any housing assistance (IDMC, 2015); and provide free legal assistance focused on housing access and to respond to housing and property disputes. In Somalia and other settings, efforts to promote women’s housing rights were linked to gender-based violence (Syn, 2016). Therefore, efforts to promote and protect women’s housing and property must be taken with great care and sensitivity, allowing displaced women to give input as to whether and how this should be addressed. agricultural investment. Instead, with their land secured, Reporting on women’s rights to HLP is challenging because women shifted from guard labor to more off-farm labor, national household surveys are historically sampled at which led to increased business profits for these women the household level. In addition, very few countries in the (Agyei-Holmes et al., 2020). global south have a complete and up-to-date cadaster or registry record of land use rights and ownership. This makes Finally, access to comparable data on women’s rights to providing data on land ownership difficult, and even fewer HLP is a constraint. To address this data gap globally, SDG countries can provide specific data on gender. As such, this 1.4.2 aims to capture the percentage of adults with secure data may not reflect the gender dynamic, and reporting tenure disaggregated by gender and land tenure type. on women’s land and property rights is largely reliant on However, few countries have reported this data, and even national surveys, like the Demographic and Health Survey fewer are able to provide it disaggregated by gender. (DHS), Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS), 7 and the agricultural census. Even these national survey bundle of tenure, use rights, and perceptions of tenure, instruments often only answer questions about ownership like those incorporated into LSMS. The World Bank Gender at the household level, revealing little of the complex Data Portal now provides data on 53 countries based on ownership, access, management, and use relations within DHS data, which shows that within those 53 countries, over the household. 70 percent of women do not own any land (Figure 3). In 2009, the Gender Asset Gap Project was created Further analysis of data from 41 countries looked specifically to demonstrate that collecting asset data below the at gender gaps in property ownership among couples. It household level was feasible and individual level data on finds that husbands were, on average, 2.7 times more likely men’s and women’s asset rights and ownership could be than wives to own property alone and 1.4 times more likely done at the national representative level. This has been to own property alone or jointly (Gaddis et al., 2022). The further developed by the UN Department of Economics Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provides data for and Social Affairs Statistical Division in support of the agricultural land and in 2018, it reported that less than 15 SDGs, and by the World Bank through the LSMS. While percent of agricultural landholders12 are women, ranging the number of data sets is growing, data remain limited. from as low as five percent in the Middle East and North In 2010, DHS also started to sample both men and women Africa to 18 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean separately. However, the questions are limited to joint and (FAO, 2018). individual ownership of land and do not cover the wider FIGURE 3: PERCENTAGE OF FEMALES WHO OWN NO LAND Source: Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Data Retrieved from World Bank Gender Data Portal. License Type: CC BY-4.0. https://genderdata.worldbank.org/indicators/sg-own-ld/?ownership=Do%20not%20own 12 T  his indicator measures the percentage of women and men agricultural landholders out of the total population of agricultural holders. The indicator focuses on the primary managers of agricultural holdings with the understanding that they may not be the legal owners of the holdings. 8 Another initiative to fill the data gap is the Prindex,13 which uses the Gallup Survey to ask an expanded set of questions on tenure security via phone surveys. Based on tenure data collected across 140 countries, Prindex finds that approximately one in five women (aged 18+) feel insecure about their land and property rights. There is considerable regional and even intra-country variation. Rates of perceived tenure insecurity are marginally higher among women than men in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and North America. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a higher proportion of women renters feel insecure in comparison to men renters. In addition, the reasons for insecurity vary, with married women citing internal sources of insecurity, such as family disagreements, particularly when faced with the possibility of spousal death or divorce (Prindex, 2020) (Feyertag et al., 2021). 13 PRINDEX is a global index of perceptions of land and property rights: PRINDEX.net 9 IMPROVING WOMEN’S LAND ACCESS AND RIGHTS TO HLP The World Bank has continuously increased its focus on Women’s participation in land governance c)  women’s HLP rights since the publication the Gender functions and institutions: Aside from formalizing Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects: or registering land rights, it is important aspect to A Synthesis Report (2005) and the Gender in Agriculture ensure women’s participation in land governance Sourcebook (2009), which included a chapter on Gender bodies, so that they have more say in longer term Issues in Land Policy and Administration. The World Bank land management and allocation decisions actively engages with other development partners on HLP rights and brings best practices to its operations. A Legal, Regulatory, Policy, and review of Implementation Completion Reports of World Institutional Reform Bank projects closing after 2010 shows that approximately Legal, regulatory, and policy reforms are key mechanisms 60 precent of standalone land administration projects to improve women’s access and productive use of land. collected and reported on sex disaggregated data. A Reforms can range from legislation that recognizes women’s second portfolio review completed in 2021 of the 17 active right to own or transfer land, to changes in inheritance standalone land administration projects shows that all rights, to extending land rights for customary unions. 17 projects were collecting sex-disaggregated data. This These reforms are often implemented jointly with land includes data on the number of land parcels or land rights clarification and formalization efforts, but they can have registered to women, as well as indictors on women’s standalone and transformative effects. This is especially participation in consultations, their satisfaction with land true when legislative and policy changes are supported by administration services, and the number of women trained both complementary regulatory and institutional reforms under the project. and wide public awareness campaigns that include men Emerging evidence and experience point to three and women. When implementing such reforms, it is critical categories of interventions that can strengthen women’s to understand the intersection and interplay between rights to land: land laws and inheritance and civil law and custom. This is particularly critical when the country includes matrilineal Legal, regulatory, policy, and institutional reforms. a)  inheritance practices, as documenting land rights to heads Inventions include recognition of women’s right of household may unintentionally reduce women’s tenure to access, own, transfer, bequeath, and inherit security if the land rights are traditionally secured through land; designating the default marital property the female line. regime to be community property; public outreach; and training. As an example of legal reform to support women’s HLP rights: in Sierra Leone under traditional customary family Clarification and formalization of women’s land b)  law, women have less access to and control over land rights. This entails ensuring women have their than men, with 68 percent of all land plots owned by men ownership and use rights—whether individually, compared to 21 percent owned by women.14 The World jointly, or collectively—documented in land mapping, Bank supported a series of policy operations15 to support titling, regularization, and spatial planning efforts. women’s land rights through new legislation (Customary Land Rights Act and National Land Commission Act) and operationalization of the new legislation that requires women be at least 30 percent of appointed Commissioners on the Board of the new Land Commissions (National and District). 14 Sierra Leone Third Productivity and Transparency Support Grant (P169498) Project Document, May 2020. 15  hird Productivity and Transparency Support Grant (P169498) 2020; First Inclusive and Sustainable Growth DPO (P175342) 2022; Second T Inclusive and Sustainable Growth DPF (P178321) 2023. 10 Reforms that support joint registration can be helpful. Inheritance is one of the main pathways through which The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) supported women may access land; however, patrilineal and the Government of Lesotho in carrying out policy and patrilocal inheritance norms limit women’s inheritance institutional reforms and public outreach on women’s land in many countries. Reforming inheritance laws is one rights, which catalyzed demand for formal land registration option. In India, a revision of the Hindu Succession Act services for women. This was achieved through the passage resulted in significantly more women and girls inheriting of the Legal Capacity of Married Persons Act16 and related land and going to school (Deininger et al., 2013). Another implementing regulations, as well as the establishment emerging practice is to include inheritance plans in a land of a new efficient Land Administration Authority and a titling and registration program. The Rwanda land tenure systematic titling intervention that only provided free regularization program included an explicit record of who mapping and titling for married couples if they agreed to will inherit the parcel. It led to children being 13 points joint titling. As a result, 80 percent of sporadic registrations more likely to inherit land and gender bias being virtually and 85 percent of systematic titles were registered eliminated, with girls’ planned land inheritance almost individually or jointly in the name of a woman, increasing equal to boys. (Ali et al., 2014).17 women’s land registration by 55 percentage points (World Bank, 2022). Women’s participation in land and mortgage Religious practices can also formally limit women’s markets also grew. inheritance. While Sharia law allows for women to inherit (usually one half of what sons will inherit), in many countries An assessment of the joint tilting provisions of the 2003 women are socially pressured to renounce their inheritance Land Law in Vietnam finds that, from 2004 to 2014, the rights in favor of a brother or male relative. To respond to share of jointly titled residential land rose from 16 to 56 this, in 2011 Jordan’s Personal Status law was amended to percent and from 12 to 38 percent for cropland. In terms include a three-month waiting period during which an heir of benefits, women named in Land Use Right Certificates cannot renounce or reject her inheritance, reinforced by (LURCs) increased their expenditures by an average of a judge who explains to the heirs the legal consequences two percent for agricultural land and three percent for of the renouncing of inheritance (Al-Dahdah et al., 2016). residential land, among other impacts (Buchhave et al., According to the Jordanian Sharia court, up to one third of 2020). However, the potential impacts have been limited the heirs relinquished their inheritance rights every year without a government effort to convert existing LURCs (46 over the last three decades (Corsi and Selod, 2023). percent of which are still held solely by men for cropland) into joint LURCs. The Government of Morocco, in collaboration with MCC, piloted the implementation of legal reforms regarding Support for improved land legislation has also been inheritance on collective land undergoing privatization provided under World Bank investment financing. In and titling. Law 64.17 (on Soulaliyate lands located in Ghana, the First and Second Land Administration Projects irrigated areas) legally recognizes the rights of women (P120636) provided extensive support to new land to inherit land and acquire the land titles through the legislation, including provision for properties acquired process of privatization of collective lands. The intervention during marriage to be registered jointly in the names of combined awareness raising at the community level, both spouses. In Albania, the Gender Equality in Access to training of local leaders and government officials, and Economic Opportunities Development Policy Operation legal assistance to women to navigate the administrative (P160594) supported government mandates for notaries process. The combined effort led to an increase in women’s to recognize the co-ownership of immovable property land ownership. Of the 55,173 hectares privatized through obtained during marriage under the community of property the pilot, 35 percent of land title holders are women, regime. The State Cadaster Agency issued guidelines for compared to 0.2 percent that would have been eligible registration offices to correct the under-registration of without claiming their inheritance rights (MCC, 2023). women co-owners in Albania’s existing property registries by refiling immovable properties registered in the name of one spouse that were presumed to be co-owned. 16  ollowing this act, women were no longer considered minors after marriage and able to own property and access credit without the F permission of their husbands. 17 For more detail on inheritance norms and practices please see: https:/  /landwise-production.s3.amazonaws.com/2022/03/Giovarelli- Scalise_Evidence-Brief-Do-Inheritance-Reforms-Work-for-Women_2020-1.pdf 11 Clarification and Formalization of Women’s It conducted a randomized control trial in Uganda via Land Rights an intervention that offered rural households assistance in obtaining freehold titles at no cost. Results show that Systematic registration, titling and land regularization providing men with persuasive information about the programs that emphasize joint registration18 can help family benefits of adding their wife’s name to the title secure women’s land rights. Joint registration works and requiring that decision to be made in the presence when officials and landholders are aware of women’s land of the wife, increased the share of households that chose rights and when incentive structures are in place, such as to register land in both spouses’ names (rather than in the requirements to jointly register if married. If women are husband’s name only) from around 66 percent to 91 percent. not fully informed of their rights or do not participate in The study also finds that making the land titling assistance systematic processes, or if men do not understand the offer conditional on the wife’s name being added to the importance of women’s land rights, women may not benefit. title is highly effective, without reducing overall demand In addition, procedural changes can make a difference. If for titling (Cherchi et al., 2022). An experiment in urban forms have a space for a wife’s name, it is more likely to get Tanzania similarly demonstrates that a small conditional filled. Similarly, if staff trained in field data collection know subsidy can induce households to adopt joint land titling to collect a wife’s name, it is more likely to end up on the (Ali et al., 2016). However, a qualitative review of stamp duty final document. discounts for registering women’s names in India paints a The World Bank Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) finds more mixed picture (Awasthi et al., 2023). This intervention that demand for joint titling can be encouraged through may work best for sporadic (on demand) registration simple and cost-effective informational interventions, processes, as World Bank and donor-financed systematic as well as economic and social incentives (see Box 3). registration projects often waive or substantially subsidize registration fees. BOX 3: BUILDING THE EVIDENCE BASE The World Bank Africa GIL is conducting new impact evaluations with current lending projects in sub-Saharan Africa in collaboration with the government and project teams. An overarching aim of these experiments is to understand: (i) how to increase the share of land titles or certificates issued by these projects in women’s names; and (ii) the impact of doing so on women’s empowerment and overall household welfare. In Mozambique, the focus in on the role of social norms. It was found that men (and women) substantially underestimate the extent to which their fellow community members support the notion that men and women should have equal land rights. The experiment is testing the impact of an informational intervention attempting to correct these beliefs. In Cote d’Ivoire, the focus is on comparing the effectiveness of titling land in women’s names through a “marriage upgrading” intervention that helps (customarily married) couples enter into civil marriage under a community of property regime. In Tanzania, the focus is on the role community leaders (influencers). The experiment is testing the effectiveness of interventions aimed at mobilizing community leaders to encourage households in their communities to register land in women’s names. In Senegal, the focus is on the role of land surveyor agents. The experiment is testing the effectiveness of different (intrinsic and extrinsic) incentives given to agents to increase the share of titles they issue in women’s names. 18 This can apply to titling but also certification, regularization and other activities that document and register rights to HLP. 12 Understanding the tenure contexts and designing Default joint registration can help but it is important interventions to ensure that women are engaged in to also recognize customary marriages. In Rwanda, the systematic titling and registration processes are critical land tenure regularization effort required registration of to securing women’s land rights. During the early married female spouses by default, further enforced by implementation of the World Bank-financed Land Titling the country’s 1999 inheritance law. This led to improved Project I in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos), the access to land for legally married women. This highlights names on title documents did not always reflect the the importance of the legal and institutional framework, true owners, whether men, women, or jointly. This was as well as offering incentives and conditions to encourage due to a combination of factors, including titling in areas joint registration. Rwanda did face small reductions in where matrilineal inheritance was prevalent, but titles registration for women who live with partners or are in still recognized the male head of household as the titled marriages that are unregistered (Ali et al., 2014). The lack of owner. Also, titling authorities did not spend the time effects for informally married women in Rwanda implies and resources to properly train local staff or sensitize the that, when designing formalization programs, it is important community about joint titling, which resulted in social to consider the differential situation of women living in norms defaulting to the male head of household (World common law unions or other arrangements. A similar Bank, 2005). Through more concentrated efforts to educate conclusion can be drawn from an ongoing evaluation in land agency staff and with support from the Laos Women’s Côte d’Ivoire, where the costs of entering a civil marriage Union,38 percent of titles were registered individually (e.g., fees, documentation, and government bureaucracy) under women’s names and another 30 percent were are substantial (Donald et al., 2020). Both studies show the registered jointly by the end of the Land Titling Project I importance of understanding the customary details of a and II (P075006), which ran from 1997 to 2009 (World country prior to engaging to avoid negative externalities. Bank 2010). The new World Bank-financed Enhancing Systematic Land Registration Project (P169669) will build on these results. 13 World Bank experience shows that joint registration When titling is not possible, women can still benefit from can be done even in the context of a post-disaster cadastral updating and digitization processes. In Türkiye, reconstruction. In Indonesia, the Reconstruction of Aceh ongoing efforts to accurately record land ownership Land Administration Systems Project (P095883) took information as part of cadastral updating is considered place in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami and focused a key step in addressing challenges related to women’s on recovering and protecting land ownership rights access to land and property. During the implementation in the affected area. It prioritized rebuilding the land of Land Registration and Cadaster Modernization Project administration system and promoting women’s rights by (P106284), over 5.3 million women (about 40 percent of introducing the option of jointly registering land. Before total project beneficiaries) benefitted from having their the project, less than four percent of titles were joint titles, use or ownership rights to land and property recorded reflecting the registration practices of married couples (both single and joint ownership) because of the project’s registering only under the husband’s name. By the final cadastral updating activities. year of the project, rights registered to women or jointly accounted for approximately 45 percent of the nearly 100,000 titles distributed (World Bank, 2010). Box 4 shows how land titling can also address challenging situations of gender-based violence (GBV). BOX 4: SECURING LAND AND PROPERTY ASSETS OWNERSHIP TO PREVENT GBV Women’s access to land and property assets is one of the hardest barriers to tackle worldwide, and it has been deeply linked to several types of violence against women and girls (VAWG) (Agarwal and Panda, 2007). The most documented forms of VAWG linked to land are intimate partner violence (IPV), property grabbing of widows, and sexual extortion by land authorities to women who seek land titles or want to negotiate access to property. Enhancing women’s rights to HLP can significantly protect them from experiencing IPV in the following ways: • It increases women’s empowerment, status, and capability. This shifts household power dynamics in a positive way and reduces the willingness to accept IPV. • It provides a tangible exit option since property ownership can signal sufficient economic independence to discourage IPV or leave abusive situations. • It helps to address barriers that may be keeping women in violent relationships. Policy, institutional, and community-level interventions that strengthen women’s rights to HLP can shift longstanding social norms and power dynamics that perpetuate inequality between women and men and contribute to the acceptance of the use of violence against them. Interventions can reduce the risk factors related to violence by addressing barriers to women’s HLP rights. For example, a program developed by the Global Land Tool Network/UN-Habitat engaged village chiefs in the issuance of gender-equitable land certificates. This emerged as a promising practice at the community level in Zambia’s Chisamba District. The Rwanda Land Project, funded by USAID and implemented by Chemonics, designed a radio communications campaign targeting men and boys by invoking “gender-equal land rights” instead of “women’s land rights.” This addressed men’s fears that only women stood to benefit from the land project at men’s expense—a situation that could exacerbate GBV instead of tackling it Source and for more information: World Bank. 2019. Violence Against Women and Girls Resource Guide: Land Sector brief. World Bank, Washington, DC. 14 A long-term investment in awareness raising and However, social norms can be sticky. Land ownership and engagement with beneficiary communities can start transfers in Kosovo are largely patrilineal. Women are often to change norms around women’s land rights. In marginalized during the allocation of family property and, Nicaragua during the preparation of the first World Bank- particularly in rural areas, they are pressured to relinquish financed Land Administration Project in 2010 (PRODEP I) their inheritance rights at the risk of appearing unsupportive (P056018), the social assessment found that male heads of their living male relatives. While there have been several of household had mostly benefited from past land reform legal breakthroughs in support of women’s equal rights and that inheritance laws favored male heirs. However, to land, the underlying cultural preferences continue to the Nicaraguan government had recently passed gender- create gaps between law and practice. When the World sensitive legislation that required land titles be issued Bank-financed Real Estate Cadastre and Registration jointly to husband and wife. Yet, data seemed to suggest Project (RECAP) (P101214) became effective in 2011, only 12 that the issuance of joint titling was limited. PRODEP I percent of women had titles in their name, whether solely recognized that women continued to face disadvantages in or jointly with a spouse (World Bank, 2018). accessing land and obtaining legal recognition of their land rights. This facilitated the development of a gender strategy To respond to this, gender targets were incorporated directly linked to the project’s communication strategy and into the project’s results framework. They were informed grievance redress mechanism, and the mainstreaming by prior assessments of the status of women’s property of gender across all project activities. It helped empower rights and economic security in Kosovo compared to men. women beneficiaries by raising awareness about their An initiative was piloted that incentivized joint titling by land rights; 51 percent of beneficiaries were women, either waiving registration fees for couples who agreed to register individually or as a couple (World Bank, 2013). joint ownership of marital property. The project also supported extensive capacity building, awareness raising, The Second Land Administration Project (PRODEP II) and legal aid for women’s land rights. Thus far, about 19 (P121152) continued this progress. Over half (52 percent) percent19 of properties are either solely or jointly owned of beneficiaries have been women, either individually by women, showing improvement but also revealing that or as a couple. PRODEP’s gender strategy facilitated social norms change is a long-term process. the integration of gender across all components of the regularization process. Gender specific guidelines, There is less rigorous research and fewer systematic tools, and training built the capacity of project staff to assessments on women’s access to urban land and implement the gender strategy. Finally, project staff’s housing rights (Rakodi, 2014). However, the same social actual commitment to implement the strategy was crucial. norms and legal barriers affecting women’s land rights Women participated across the process: 45 percent of apply to housing and urban land, including barriers to participants in informational assemblies were women, 44 inheritance, treatment of widows, and complex and percent of participants in the public displays of cadastral confusing procedures for securing rights to HLP. As a information were women, and 46 percent of participants in significant portion of housing in developing countries is mediation agreements about land conflicts were women in informal areas, additional issues arise, including limited (World Bank, 2021). Furthermore, the project facilitated access to services, inadequate infrastructure, and poor the coordination among municipalities and community- housing quality. This often has a greater impact on women, based organizations to promote the active participation of who bear the brunt of extra labor to access clean water and women in project activities. sanitation, as well as greater exposure to GBV. In addition, women may be at greater risk of sexual extortion related to access to housing, though data on this is extremely limited (Transparency International, 2020). 19 19.26 percent per KCA’s latest figures: https://akk-statistics.rks-gov.net/ 15 A World Bank review of available DHS data for Africa finds Women and Collective Land Rights and that gender gaps in ownership are generally higher in rural Land Governance than urban areas, but this may be because men are also Women need a formal seat at the table. Aside from less likely to own land in urban areas. The study also finds formalizing or registering women’s rights to HLP, another that women are more likely to own property if they live in important aspect is to ensure women’s participation in land a country with full or partial community of marital property governance bodies. This includes adjudication committees, as compared to a country with separation of property. This dispute resolution mechanisms, land allocation confirms the expectation that women fare better under committees and land use management structures, among community property regimes. (World Bank, 2018) others. These may be short-term structures for project Tenancy and fear of eviction may be higher in urban areas activities or permanent entities for the management and where customary norms around land security may be governance of land and land-based resources, such as eroded. However, urban areas offer benefits to women, forests. Catalyzing women’s ability to act as meaningful including greater access to education and jobs and, participants in land governance (beyond meeting legally potentially, more freedom from restrictive social norms required quotas) can enhance a project’s gender outcomes. and expectations. For women household heads and Empowering women in these capacities, through widows, secure tenure and ownership rights may allow awareness raising, training, and encouraging sufficient them the opportunity to rent out a room for additional participation in decision making (at least 30 percent), also income (Datta, 1995; Panman, 2021). However, the tenure encourages sustainability of women’s land rights beyond security and status of women-headed households varies the project lifespan. Engaging with women’s organizations greatly by country and region (Rakodi, 2014). and gender champions within the community can help. Box 5 outlines an initiative to build for women’s leadership The same efforts to secure HLP rights for women should to advocate for their rights to HLP. apply to urban housing, but more efforts may be needed to support housing formalization for women. Legal processes Considerable evidence from the forest sector shows that can be complex and are often tied in with urban planning women have unique knowledge of forests and natural standards and processes. More study of women’s urban resources (Colfer et al., 2016). Involving women in forest land and housing issues is needed. and natural resource management and governance can 16 be critical for stemming biodiversity loss and supporting Several organizations are working in this area to increase conservation efforts. Understanding women’s tenure women’s capacity to participate in land and resource rights in these collective contexts is an area for continued governance and to improve community understanding research, though the last several years have brought an of women’s roles in land and resource governance increased focus on the topic of collective land rights for entities, including in Senegal and Tanzania (Sutz et al., women and how women participate in land and natural 2019). New legal frameworks in Liberia and Sierra Leone resource governance. Some recent research includes how seek to strengthen collective land and resource tenure women’s tenure rights may be impacted by climate finance rights and strengthen the roles of women in the land and programs (such as the Forest Carbon Partnership Fund) resource governance institutions through quotas for their (World Bank, 2022) and qualitative reviews of collective formal participation. land rights and land governance practices around the world (Salcedo-La Viña and Giovarelli, 2021; Giovarelli et al., 2016). BOX 5: SUPPORTING WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AND ENGAGEMENT The World Bank is a founding member—along with the International Land Coalition, Global Land Tools Network, Landesa, Habitat for Humanity International, and the Huairou Commission—of the Stand for Her Land campaign. The campaign is working to close the gap between global commitments on women’s land rights, like the SDGs, and the realization of those rights in practice. The campaign seeks to address this gap in implementation by engaging with women, local and international organizations, donors, and governments through country-based coalitions and regional and global advocacy; and by working with women’s organizations and women leaders on the ground. The campaign is focused on supporting women to organize and advocate for their land rights at community, country, and global levels. 17 RECOMMENDATIONS The barriers and impediments to women’s HLP rights are Clarification and Formalization of Women’s many, but emerging evidence shows they can be addressed Land Rights successfully to the benefit of both women and men. Based For land administration and tenure security operations, it is on this review of World Bank and other donor-financed important to include women in the design and preparation projects and interventions that have shown promise, the process. This may require additional stakeholder engage- following recommendations are offered for development ment mechanisms that specifically focus on women and practitioners, policymakers, and women themselves. working with local women’s organizations. In addition, evidence shows that the following steps are important: Legal, Regulatory, Policy and Institutional Reform • Invest in public awareness and education campaigns as a Women’s rights to access, own, and control land are linked critical activity and include messaging for women and girls not only to land laws, but often civil and family law and and men and boys. It is essential that men and boys are inheritance rights. Reforming these laws is not always targeted by messaging that resonates with them in their feasible, but where possible, the following actions can help country and cultural context. advance goals: • Focus on women’s land rights in operations that have • Continue to push for reforms to allow for the full range of systematic registration, formalization, surveying, land tenure rights for women to access, own, transfer, bequeath, mapping, titling, and regularization. This requires training and inherit land. for field teams and ensuring that women in the community participate in all aspects from sensitization activities to • Reform the default marital property regime to be boundary walks. This may require compensating women community of property. for their time, arranging childcare, or scheduling meetings at times that accommodate women’s familial obligations. • Recognize customary or traditional marriage as equal to civil marriage for property or asset ownership • Given the digital gender divide, consider if women need and registration. digital literacy training or support. • Consider implementing waiting periods during which an • Train women (and men) as para-surveyors and heir cannot renounce or reject her inheritance. paralegals to continue supporting their communities’ land rights activities. • Include quotas for women’s participation in land governance structures, such as adjudication committees, • Ensure that women are part of adjudication committees, dispute resolution mechanisms, land allocation structures, dispute resolution mechanisms, and other land and land/resource use management committees. management bodies. This may require setting quotas, sensitizing men to the importance of women’s • Beyond reforming laws, also review by-laws, regulations, participation, and training women to be active participants manuals, forms, and other implementation tools. For and leaders. example, ensure all forms include space for multiple names and to specify spouse(s). • When designing offices for land administration services, consider the needs of women, including family restrooms, • Finally, review/revise national budgets to ensure full childcare services, and advisory services. Consider office financing for implementation of such reforms. hours and women’s schedules. Consider accessibility and offices that are close to the communities, including mobile offices. Consider societal taboos and if women land officers are needed with separate entrances and offices. 20 For additional recommendations please see Integrating Gender into Land Projects: A Toolkit (World Bank, October 2022). 18 Photo Credit: Colombia National Planning Department, Multipurpose Cadaster Project, 2023 Research and Data Collection The World Bank and its GILs will continue to collaborate with other development partners to build the evidence base on women’s HLP rights. This includes the following: • Focus on collection of gender-disaggregated data on land rights, tenure security and other aspects of land administration. Land information systems should be designed to produce gender-disaggregated data on all aspects of land information. Ensure that SDG 1.4.2 has complete data for all countries. • Expand the research agenda to understand women’s urban land rights and issues. Most of the impact evaluations and research completed to date has focused on rural land. 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