The Gender and Land Rights Database

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About

The Gender and Land Rights Database brings together information on how men and women in 80 countries differ in their legal rights and access to land. It provides country-based information on the major social, economic, political and cultural factors that affect men and women’s land rights, such as national and customary laws governing land use; property rights and inheritance; international treaties and conventions, and other related statistics.

The country profiles available from the Database presents a comprehensive set of facts and figures useful for driving reforms, designing gender-sensitive policies and programmes, and enforcing existing provisions that guarantee women and men have equal rights to land. The Database also draws attention to key thematic areas that require more research and better policy interventions. It also allows users to call up comparative reports on a given topic between two or more countries.

This online tool is a useful resource for decision makers, researchers and development practitioners who wish to undertake an in-depth analysis of gender inequalities in land rights, both at country level and across regions.

Characteristics

The Database includes information on gender and land rights in 80 countries. Each country profile covers 24 subjects, which are organized under 6 thematic areas:

National Legal Frame;
International Treaties and Conventions;
Customary Law;
Land Tenure and Related Institutions;
Civil Society Organizations; and
Selected Land Related Statistics.

The profiles are available in the country’s official language (English, French, Spanish or Russian); and 11 country profiles are available in two languages.

Purpose

Within the international community, there has been a growing awareness of the need to understand and address the legal, institutional and customary factors that lie behind women’s poor access to land and insecurity of tenure; which remain critical issues across most countries. To address this need, FAO’s Gender, Equity and Rural Employment Division (ESW) provides relevant information; and it supports countries in developing land tenure reforms, programmes and projects that take into consideration the different roles, needs and aspirations of both women and men.

The Gender and Land Rights Database, which was launched by ESW in 2010, was developed in consultation with national statistics authorities, universities, civil society organizations and other sources worldwide. It is innovative because it focuses on the implications of land tenure policies on men and women’s decision–making and status; and emphasizes the importance of women’s access to resources, particularly land, in order to ensure household food security.

At the country level, it offers data that can be used for initiating reforms in land policy and related programmes; provides information to support the implementation of such reforms; and offers information on the existing legal provisions that protect women's rights to land. It also suggests areas which require attention and action from policy makers.

Selected FAO publications

Gender and Land Rights: Understanding Complexities; Adjusting Policies (FAO)

Gender in agriculture sourcebook (WB/FAO/IFAD)

Improving gender equity in access to land (FAO)

Gender and land compendium of country studies (FAO)

Selected FAO videos

Gender dimensions in land and water: Experiences from the field - This video gives an overview of an FAO project in Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and East Timor that works to increase men's and women's security of land tenure, as well as access to water and other natural resources.

Land and water: Rights and gender equity - This video presents highlights from an FAO workshop that took place in Lisbon from 3-4 June 2010. The workshop helped to identify key lessons from an FAO project carried out in Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique and East Timor to address gender equality issues in access to land and water.