Women's land rights in the transition to individualized ownership: implications or tree resources in Western Ghana

This study explores the impact of changes in land tenure institutions on women’s land rights and the efficiency of tree resource management in western Ghana, where cocoa is the dominant crop. Although communal land tenure aims to provide equitable access to land for all households, women’s land rights in the region are weaker than those of men, as is often the case under customary land tenure systems (Lastarria-Cornhiel 1997). If women are blocked from having secure land rights, and therefore from individualized investment in land, the resulting barrier to increased productivity will diminish their incentives to sustain resource use over time (Meinzen-Dick et al. 1997).