Gender, headship, and the life cycle: Landownership in four Asian countries

Despite increasing evidence that households do not always function as one, policies regarding land and property rights are often formulated at the household level, assuming the primary adult male is the landowner. Because land policy reform has typically focused on changing household, rather than in...

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Main Authors: Sproule, Kathryn, Kieran, Caitlin, Quisumbing, Agnes R., Doss, Cheryl
Format: Artículo preliminar
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149447
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author Sproule, Kathryn
Kieran, Caitlin
Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Doss, Cheryl
author_browse Doss, Cheryl
Kieran, Caitlin
Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Sproule, Kathryn
author_facet Sproule, Kathryn
Kieran, Caitlin
Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Doss, Cheryl
author_sort Sproule, Kathryn
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Despite increasing evidence that households do not always function as one, policies regarding land and property rights are often formulated at the household level, assuming the primary adult male is the landowner. Because land policy reform has typically focused on changing household, rather than individual, rights to land, many of the data are collected at the household rather than the individual level. As a result of a combination of these factors, securing women’s land rights has remained a largely unaddressed issue by policymakers. So as to inform the formulation of policies and interventions to strengthen women’s land rights, this paper analyzes nationally representative data from Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam to understand the processes by which men and women acquire land; the social, cultural, and legal institutions surrounding gender and landownership; and the role of individual and household characteristics influencing an individual’s ability to own land. Our findings that women own less land than do men across different types of household structures and that gender inequality increases with household landholdings suggests that women’s land rights need to be strengthened within marriage and protected should the marriage dissolve. Although the impacts of gender-sensitive land policy reform are not well researched, early findings on policy reforms such as joint titling in Vietnam show that policies to strengthen women’s land rights have the potential to improve women’s well-being as well as their children’s without detrimental effects on productivity. Our findings of gender inequalities in intrahousehold land allocation and of increasing inequality as households accumulate land suggest an agenda for future research and policy that strengthens the land rights of women, particularly within marriage.
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spelling CGSpace1494472025-11-06T06:03:40Z Gender, headship, and the life cycle: Landownership in four Asian countries Sproule, Kathryn Kieran, Caitlin Quisumbing, Agnes R. Doss, Cheryl gender households land ownership assets legal rights land policies land rights women Despite increasing evidence that households do not always function as one, policies regarding land and property rights are often formulated at the household level, assuming the primary adult male is the landowner. Because land policy reform has typically focused on changing household, rather than individual, rights to land, many of the data are collected at the household rather than the individual level. As a result of a combination of these factors, securing women’s land rights has remained a largely unaddressed issue by policymakers. So as to inform the formulation of policies and interventions to strengthen women’s land rights, this paper analyzes nationally representative data from Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam to understand the processes by which men and women acquire land; the social, cultural, and legal institutions surrounding gender and landownership; and the role of individual and household characteristics influencing an individual’s ability to own land. Our findings that women own less land than do men across different types of household structures and that gender inequality increases with household landholdings suggests that women’s land rights need to be strengthened within marriage and protected should the marriage dissolve. Although the impacts of gender-sensitive land policy reform are not well researched, early findings on policy reforms such as joint titling in Vietnam show that policies to strengthen women’s land rights have the potential to improve women’s well-being as well as their children’s without detrimental effects on productivity. Our findings of gender inequalities in intrahousehold land allocation and of increasing inequality as households accumulate land suggest an agenda for future research and policy that strengthens the land rights of women, particularly within marriage. 2015-11-26 2024-08-01T02:49:23Z 2024-08-01T02:49:23Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149447 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153642 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153757 https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12202 https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12171 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Sproule, Kathryn; Kieran, Caitlin; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; and Doss, Cheryl. 2015. Gender, headship, and the life cycle: Landownership in four Asian countries. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1481. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149447
spellingShingle gender
households
land ownership
assets
legal rights
land policies
land rights
women
Sproule, Kathryn
Kieran, Caitlin
Quisumbing, Agnes R.
Doss, Cheryl
Gender, headship, and the life cycle: Landownership in four Asian countries
title Gender, headship, and the life cycle: Landownership in four Asian countries
title_full Gender, headship, and the life cycle: Landownership in four Asian countries
title_fullStr Gender, headship, and the life cycle: Landownership in four Asian countries
title_full_unstemmed Gender, headship, and the life cycle: Landownership in four Asian countries
title_short Gender, headship, and the life cycle: Landownership in four Asian countries
title_sort gender headship and the life cycle landownership in four asian countries
topic gender
households
land ownership
assets
legal rights
land policies
land rights
women
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149447
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AT quisumbingagnesr genderheadshipandthelifecyclelandownershipinfourasiancountries
AT dosscheryl genderheadshipandthelifecyclelandownershipinfourasiancountries