Gender and access to land

This paper explores gender and issues of land access and administration in rural development. It argues that increasing social, economic and technological changes are requiring a re-examination of the institutional arrangements used to administer who has rights to what resources and under what conditions. It is frequently the case that gender issues are left out or misunderstood in such situations, with often long lasting and very negative results.Findings and conclusions include:most donor-funded projects dealing with land administration concern themselves with only one aspect of land administration, principally that of administering land rights through some form of identification and documentation of rights: they do not usually address other aspects such as land use planning and enforcement, and land valuation and taxation, or do so only marginallyproviding gender inclusiveness in access to land can benefit families, communities, and nations through, for example:increased economic opportunitiesincreased investment in land and food productionimproved family security during transitionsbetter housing and land stewardshipbenefits, however, can only be fully realised if the strategies adopted for improving gender inclusion work in practice. Decision-makers and project teams need to know:the quality and distribution of rights in landthe economic and cultural impediments that limit effective and secure access to landthe benefits that can be achieved by enhancing gender inclusionthe options that exist for providing more equitable access to landthe implications of implementing these optionswithout changes to the attitudes of much of the population, traditional practices are likely to continue regardless of the formulation of new policies or the enactment of new legislationas the land tenure issues grow increasingly complex and become more diverse, land administrators have a responsibility to know more about the issues and to do more to ensure that the systems for administering property rights serve all sectors of societies wellThe paper presents specific recommendations for different types of actors in order to achieve the following goals:for development organisations:improve the environment for gender inclusivenessimprove opportunities for gender inclusivenessfor land administration professionalsinclude all sectors of the populationremove barriers to access to informationaddress the obstacles to participationwork with the local communities[adapted from author]