[Abstract] If development means the exapnsion of human capabilities, then freedom from domestic violence should be an integral part of any exercise for evaluating development progress. This paper focuses on a hitherto unexplored factor underlying women's risk of marital violence, namely women's property status. Many studies have examined the scale and corralates of marital violence, but neglected this dimension. Based on a household survey in Kerala (India), the authors assess the prevalence and correlates of both phisical and psychological violence - long term and current.

Poor women in developing countries rely on land as source of livelihood. Increasing pressure on land — brought on by globalisation pressures, increased population and privatisation — undermines women’s land tenure security. The comparison of women’s land access is predominantly measured against that of men, and this has been the basis for formulating policy aimed at increasing women’s land tenure security. However, this dichotomy reduces women to a homogenous group which experiences tenure security in an identical manner, so the dichotomy masks several differences which exist among women.

[From the Executive Summary] Women’s access to and control over land is crucial for improving their status and reducing gender inequalities, which in turn are critical factors in reducing the prevalence of poverty, malnutrition and AIDS. Women’s farming activities, which prioritise providing food for the family, have been largely overlooked in agricultural policy. And women’s rights to land and livelihoods have barely been included in HIV strategies and programmes.

Securing the rights of both women and men to land is essential for sustainable rural development, social equity and economic growth. Today women are the major agricultural producers at the household level. Yet their rights are often marginalized and can be lost in development projects unless gender-inclusive practices are implemented. This guide focuses on gender relations and how their structure may affect access to land.

The Gender, Land and Asset Survey (GLAS) is one of the first studies to undertake a quantitative and gendered assessment of men’s and women’s rights over assets – including ownership, documentation and degree of control over use, transfer and transactions – and the implications thereof.

This is the report of a workshop held in Zimbabwe on HIV/AIDS and property rights women, with the aim of empowering widows at the grassroots level, as well as orphans affected by insecure property rights. The report makes recommendations on how to increase tenure security for women and children affected by HIV/AIDS.

You can download this report from the FAO website.

The Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) is a community-based organisation established in 1997 in Tanzania. It was founded to promote the development of Maasai pastoralist women and children by facilitating their access to education, health, social services and economic empowerment. It seeks to address women’s marginalisation in patriarchal Maasai culture, as well as the poverty among the Maasai that has long been underpinned by land access restrictions for pastoralists, hunters and gatherers.

[Executive Summary] In rural Rwanda, women, particularly widows and divorced or abandoned women, face severe obstacles protecting and upholding their interests in land, resulting in diminishing land tenure security. Women have weak rights under customary law, and while reforms have strengthened their statutory land rights, such entitlements have limited practical value in rural areas where customary law dominates.