GENDER EQUALITY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Equity in property and landed assets is instrumental in attaining economic independence and empowerment for women
in developing countries. The primary objective of this paper is to examine how effective property rights facilitates a
better bargaining position for women within the household and other areas of their lives. A number of studies have
verified that this has also enhanced the investment in human capital of the household in areas of health, nutrition and
education.
Through an extensive literature analysis on the question of gender gap in ownership of property in the global and
Indian contexts, this paper aims to provide an overview of the empowering potential of property rights and how
effective property rights are linked to reducing vulnerabilities and shocks in the lives of families all over the globe and
specifically India.
In the recent years it has come to light that worldwide, women own only 1-2% of land, and the gender gap in land
ownership is glaringly high. This paper indicates that in areas where the population is heavily dependent on
agriculture and allied sectors as the main source of income, direct and secure land and property rights for women can
improve their capabilities and levels of public participation and increase agricultural productivity given the high male
out migration and increase in female headed households. In the case of married women, effective property rights are
shown to improve the bargaining power of women in all matters within marriage.
The policies and laws enhancing property and land rights for women has empowering potential but the laws envisioned
for social empowerment take shape in specific social and cultural contexts controlled by men and is reconstructed and
reinterpreted depending on customary practices of inheritance within different communities, thus alienating women
from owning landed assets and wielding their capabilities and limiting their choices. There is a need to enhance
women’s rights to land and assets and reconsider the possibility and constraints to land access for women and other
vulnerable groups.