Resource information
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
ratified by 175 countries, is the only human rights treaty that deals specifically with rural
women. This study, undertaken jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the
International Land Coalition (ILC), analyses information on the status of rural women as provided
in selected reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women. All countries selected for this study submitted a report to the Committee between
1997 and 2003. Most are low-income, food-deficit countries. Those that are not have been
selected because they have completed or are undertaking land or agricultural reforms that are
of particular interest.
This report examines the extent to which women’s rights have been respected in those
reforms and looks at measures that have been adopted to ensure women’s access to land and
property, their inheritance rights and their legal capacity. It also presents sex-disaggregated
statistics on rural populations and the rural labour force, and information on gender units or
focal points in technical ministries.