Advancing women’s land rights is a priority for the international development agenda. Yet, there is no consensus on which rights should be monitored and reported. Three indicators of women’s property rights are widely used in the literature. Each captures a different aspect of women’s land rights, but a recent paper explores the extent to which these different rights are held by the same person, using data from six African countries.

Por Marcos Candido 

A agricultora Maria Josefa costuma dizer que mora "no meio do mato", rodeada por um pomar colorido pelos tons alaranjados dos pés de acerola e cacau cultivadas por ela na comunidade Tancredo Neves, em São Félix do Xingu, no Pará. Lá a telefonia não chega, e até 2017 não havia nem energia elétrica. Porém isso não impediu Josefa de se tornar tesoureira e presidente interina de um projeto que mantém a cor e a vida do meio ambiente: a agricultura familiar.

For hundreds of years, pastoralists in Ethiopia’s lowlands have relied on strong customary land tenure systems to survive. Historically, legislation has failed to clearly define communal rights to rangelands, and the specific roles and responsibilities for both communities and local government to administer and manage these resources. This legislative deficiency prevented pastoral communities from fully exercising their constitutional rights to land (Ethiopia’s Constitution broadly recognizes pastoral communities’ right to access land and prevents their involuntary displacement).