Land Use Policy (Vol. 99) | Land tenure security for women: A conceptual framework

In this recently published article (open access), Cheryl Doss and Ruth Meinzen-Dick have developed a conceptual framework to analyze women’s land tenure security. The article identifies the multiple dimensions of women’s tenure security and outlines the key factors that influence women’s tenure security across different contexts.

Abstract: While strengthening women’s land rights is increasingly on national and international agendas, there is little consensus on how to understand women’s tenure security. Analyses of women’s land rights often use very different definitions of land rights, from formal ownership to women’s management of plots allocated to them by their husbands. This paper identifies aspects of women’s tenure that should be included in indicators. It then provides a conceptual framework to identify the various dimensions of women’s land tenure security and the myriad factors that may influence it. To be able to compare women’s tenure security in different places, we need information on the context, the threats and opportunities facing tenure security, and the action arena that includes both the people who play a role in promoting or limiting women’s tenure security and the resources used in doing so.

Keywords: women’s land rights, legal pluralism, gender, property rights

Reference: Doss, C., & Meinzen-Dick, R. (2020). Land tenure security for women: A conceptual framework. Land Use Policy, 99, 105080

You can find the article here.