Property Rights

Women in many countries are far less likely than men to own property and assets - key tools to gaining economic security and earning higher incomes. Though laws to protect women's property rights exist in most countries, gender and cultural constraints can prevent women from owning or inheriting property. In this series, ICRW suggests practical steps to promote, protect and fulfill women's property rights.

Other publications in this series:
Women's Property Rights as an AIDS Response, Emerging Efforts in South Asia
Women's Property Rights as an AIDS Response, Lessons from Community Interventions in Africa
Learning How to Better Promote, Protect and Fulfill Women's Property Rights
Mending the Gap Between Law and Practice, Organizational Approaches for Women's Property Rights
Connecting Rights to Reality: A Progressive Framework of Core Legal Protections for Women's Property Rights

For over thirty years, ICRW has examined the role of women in increasing agricultural production and sustainably managing natural resources. These historic publications present ICRW’s groundbreaking research and analysis in examining the role of women as economic agents of change in agriculture systems.

Women, Land and Sustainable Development outlines the linkages between women’s land rights, development and sustainability.

See other historical agriculture publications:
Gender in Community Development and Resource Management
Women, Population and the Environment
Bridging the Gender Gap in Agricultural Extension
Women in Agriculture: What Development Can Do

Download Women, Land and Sustainable Development:

Does women's lack of property rights increases household poverty and their vulnerability to HIV infection? Would securing these rights mitigate the impoverishing impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic? This paper seeks to answer these questions and further examine the links between HIV/AIDS and women's property rights.

The Justice for Widows and Orphans Project (JWOP), based in Lusaka, Zambia, is an example of a network approach to strengthening widows’ and orphans’ property and inheritance rights. ICRW, in partnership with the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS (GCWA) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , supported the development of this case study as part of its initiative to reduce women’s and girls’ vulnerability to HIV/AIDS by ensuring their property and inheritance rights. Lessons learned from JWOP, outlined in this report, can be helpful to others using a network approach to address HIV/AIDS and other development issues.

This brief assesses progress toward Millennium Development Goal 3, promote gender equality and empower women, by analyzing changes in the 12 indicators proposed by the U.N. Millennium Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality and offers recommendations that can redouble global efforts to fulfill this worthy goal.

ICRW, in collaboration with researchers from India and Sri Lanka, presents the synthesis report of a multi-site research study on social protection, exploring the links of women's ownership of property and inheritance rights and their experience of domestic violence. This report brings together three research summaries as well as a cross-site analysis undertaken by ICRW.

This series explores those social, cultural and economic factors that could encourage progress toward achieving the third Millennium Development Goal to promote gender equality and empower women. Topics include decreasing violence against women, improving infrastructure and encouraging women's property ownership.

Other publications in this series:
Infrastructure Shortfalls Cost Poor Women Time and Opportunity
Violence Against Women Must Stop

Women in many countries are far less likely than men to own property and assets - key tools to gaining economic security and earning higher incomes. Though laws to protect women's property rights exist in most countries, gender and cultural constraints can prevent women from owning or inheriting property. In this series, ICRW suggests practical steps to promote, protect and fulfill women's property rights.

Other publications in this series:
Women's Property Rights as an AIDS Response, Emerging Efforts in South Asia
Women's Property Rights, HIV and AIDS, and Violence in South Africa and Uganda: Preliminary Findings
Women's Property Rights as an AIDS Response, Lessons from Community Interventions in Africa
Learning How to Better Promote, Protect and Fulfill Women's Property Rights
Connecting Rights to Reality: A Progressive Framework of Core Legal Protections for Women's Property Rights

Women in many countries are far less likely than men to own property and assets - key tools to gaining economic security and earning higher incomes. Though laws to protect women's property rights exist in most countries, gender and cultural constraints can prevent women from owning or inheriting property. In this series, ICRW suggests practical steps to promote, protect and fulfill women's property rights.

Other publications in this series:
Women's Property Rights as an AIDS Response, Emerging Efforts in South Asia
Women's Property Rights, HIV and AIDS, and Violence in South Africa and Uganda: Preliminary Findings
Women's Property Rights as an AIDS Response, Lessons from Community Interventions in Africa
Mending the Gap Between Law and Practice, Organizational Approaches for Women's Property Rights
Connecting Rights to Reality: A Progressive Framework of Core Legal Protections for Women's Property Rights

Women in many countries are far less likely than men to own property and assets - key tools to gaining economic security and earning higher incomes. Though laws to protect women's property rights exist in most countries, gender and cultural constraints can prevent women from owning or inheriting property. In this series, ICRW suggests practical steps to promote, protect and fulfill women's property rights.

Other publications in this series:
Women's Property Rights as an AIDS Response, Emerging Efforts in South Asia
Women's Property Rights, HIV and AIDS, and Violence in South Africa and Uganda: Preliminary Findings
Women's Property Rights as an AIDS Response, Lessons from Community Interventions in Africa
Learning How to Better Promote, Protect and Fulfill Women's Property Rights
Mending the Gap Between Law and Practice, Organizational Approaches for Women's Property Rights