Cultivating Women’s Rights for Access to Land

October 2005
ActionAid and International Food Security Network

Country analysis and recommendations for Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda, Viet Nam. Analyzes the de jure and customary discriminations faced by women in terms of land access in these 10 countries. Each country study starts with a data box, followed by a Rural Women Profile, a summary of women’s constitutional rights and the national legislation, an examination of customary systems in place, identification of the main constraints to women’s access to land, a set of recommendations, and the status of ratifications of relevant major international treaties. Hopes to provide a base from which future work to give women a stronger voice in household, local and national decisions should be formulated. Need to begin work at the bottom by giving women a voice for expressing their needs and hopes in terms of land.