AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT 75028 N O T E S Land Policy and Administration ISSUE 1 JANUARY 2013 Property Rights for Women in the ECA Region Results from Recent World Bank Projects BY VICTORIA STANLEY, TONY LAMB, AND SAMANTHA DE MARTINO The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region has rights, particularly in rural areas. In cases of inheri- one of the largest portfolios of land administration tance, the region’s laws generally state that property and management projects in the World Bank – 40 will be divided equally among the heirs regardless of projects over the past 20 years. Since the fall of gender. Among some groups, however, custom and communism, the ECA region has witnessed one tradition require a woman to relinquish her inheri- of the largest land reforms in history. This Note tance in favor of male relatives. Moreover, titles and focuses on the role of women as property owners deeds to land are often solely in the name of the and describes what the Bank is doing in ECA to help head of household, who is usually male. In many protect their rights. countries privatization or restitution of farmland has been applied to whole families, but the male head of THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPERTY household is often listed formally on the title or reg- RIGHTS FOR WOMEN istered deed, thereby reducing the de facto rights of Formal rights to land for women can have an im- other family members. Therefore, practical steps are portant impact on intra-household decision making required to modify attitudes, norms, and systems to and income pooling, and on women’s overall role in facilitate women’s full utilization of their rights. the household economy. These rights can improve a woman’s access to credit, enabling her to expand Many of the challenges that women in the region a business or invest in improving her land. Because face relate to local practices, traditions, and cul- land provides rural households with the basic means ture rather than to issues resolvable through legal of subsistence and market production, increasing women’s access to land is crucial to fighting hunger LESSONS LEARNED and poverty. Women’s exclusion from formally own- ing land and property has a direct impact on their • Improving women’s access to land and property economic well-being and on the health and welfare will not happen by itself; instead, projects and gov- of other members of their households. ernments must be proactive in educating women about their rights and informing land agencies In most ECA countries, inheritance and property of their responsibilities to protect and promote ownership laws are similar to those of Western Eu- women’s property rights. rope. Women and men have the same formal rights • Simple steps to protect and promote women’s to own and inherit land and other property. Although property rights can be easily integrated into project formal rights throughout most of ECA are gender- activities, often at low cost. neutral, women enjoy substantially less access to • Gender-disaggregated data are needed to track the information and legal recourse than do men. long-term impacts of such programs on women’s access to land, property, and credit. Experience gathered from over two decades of land projects and recent analytical work in the ECA • More research is needed on the gender impacts region suggest that women in many East European of access to credit and ways to improve women’s and Central Asian countries face barriers to property access to credit. land and property. When a husband and wife participate jointly in any program, it should be mandatory that both names appear on titles of ownership and any other documents. KOSOVO — REAL ESTATE CADASTRE PROJECT (RECAP) A set of practical activities to protect and promote women’s property rights are mainstreamed in the RECAP , ranging from office renovation design, public outreach, training sessions, and collection of gender- disaggregated data of customers and training course Photo: Holger Kray participants. All activities are built on existing customer service and other project initiatives, and therefore eas- ily incorporated into the operations within the existing reforms. These local settings vary widely from the Western funding. Balkans to the Caucasus to Central Asia. HOW TO IMPROVE WOMEN’S ACCESS TO PROPERTY RIGHTS TAJIKISTAN — LAND REGISTRATION AND • Raising awareness and education. Educate women on CADASTRE SYSTEM FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE PROJECT (LRCSP) their rights to land and property; educate men on the rights of their wives, sisters, and daughters; remind pol- The LRCSP is carrying out gender-disaggregated iticians and officials at cadastre and land registries that monitoring of certificate shareholders and family heads women represent half of the population; and involve of household receiving certificates, with follow-up by women’s user groups and organizations. project management where gender exclusion seems to be a serious problem. The project has included gender- • Improvement of cadastre and land registry services. specific expectations and instructions in the terms of Ensure the registration process includes spouses; reference for NGOs carrying out awareness activities. redesign forms to include room for the names of both A recent study carried out under the project on farmer husband and wife; address gender issues in all manuals perceptions includes extensive analysis on gender as and guidelines; increase women’s access to adminis- it affects both the awareness program and the actual trative services, e.g., additional hours and hotlines for issuance of certificates. women. • Ensure women’s access to legal services. Initially provide women with pilot legal assistance at reduced cost to ensure that women have open and transparent PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS access to land and property. Additional gender-disaggregated data has been utilized across the ECA region in several World Bank-financed land • Training. Train government staff, contractors, and land administration projects, for example: market professionals on how to be inclusive; make sure government officials are sensitized to gender issues. • Bosnia and Herzegovina — Real Estate Registration Project (RERP), disaggregates all data from the cadas- • Develop gender-specific indicators during project prepa- tre system by gender and is used in a baseline study for ration to measure the differential impacts the project impact evaluation of the project has on men’s and women’s property rights. • Macedonia and Kyrgyzstan — gender-disaggregated • Ensure women have open and transparent access to data is collected from cadastre office applications. 2 ROMANIA — COMPLEMENTING EU SUPPORT FOR AGRICULTURAL RESTRUCTURING PROJECT (CESAR) Vulnerable groups, including widows, single women, and Roma women, were identified before starting project activities. The project established specific responsibilities for the service contractors, including requirements to: include a communication and media- tion specialist on the field teams who could provide information on social issues; involve local leaders in the public awareness campaigns; and have the con- tractors organize special meetings for the Roma. The participation of vulnerable women in project activities was recorded, 66 percent of widows and 59 percent of single women participated in the information sessions to explain the systematic registration process, and 25 percent of widows and 21 percent of single women participated in the field activities (walking boundaries, etc.). This is an important first step in having women identified as owners. All registration data are now dis- aggregated by gender. Photo: World Bank Photo: World Bank 3 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES “Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Report 32571, World Bank, 2005, http://siteresources.world- Administration Projects� bank.org/INTARD/Resources/Gender_land_fulltxt.pdf. Gender in Agriculture (website) Includes resources from multiple organizations: World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), United Nations, etc. http://www.GenderInAg.org. Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook Compilation of evidence of good practices and lessons learned to guide practitioners in integrating gender dimen- sions. World Bank, 2009, http://go.worldbank.org/5Z9QPCC7L0. “Gender in Agriculture� World Bank, FAO, and IFAD, Agriculture and Rural Develop- ment. Includes 4-page “Toolkit for Integrating Gender-Relat- � http:// ed Issues in Land Policy and Administration Projects, siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTGENAGRLIVSOUBOOK/ Resources/GiA_toolkit_v4.pdf. World Development Report 2012: Gender World Bank, 2011, http://go.worldbank.org/U6VCPKOOB0. Equality and Development “Social Institutions and Gender Index� Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), http://my.genderindex.org. “In Her Name: Gender Asset Gap Project in Project data available on the gender asset gap (land, prop- Ecuador, Ghana and India� erty, household goods, financial assets) and methodology on how to better measure the gap http://genderassetgap.iimb.ernet.in. “Voluntary Guidelines on Governance of Recently adopted by the Committee on World Food Secu- Tenure� rity http://www.fao.org/nr/tenure/voluntary-guidelines/en/. A guide to implementing the Guidelines with a gender perspective is soon to be published. 1818 H Street. NW Washington, DC 20433 www.worldbank.org/rural