Sustainable land governance requires that all members of a community have equal rights and say in decisions that affect their collectively held lands. Unfortunately women around the world have less land ownership and weaker land rights than men – but this can change and the WRI report shows ways how that can be done. It details case studies from communities in Cameroon;Mexico;Nepal;Indonesia and Jordan.

These messages were developed based on the field experience in fragile and crisis affected contexts of UN-Habitat and the partners of the Global Land Tool Network and the HLP Area of Responsibility of the Global Protection Cluster. They are a quick reference on how to empower
women and protect their housing, land and property rights in fragile and crisis affected contexts and why this is an essential element to sustain peace and stability.

For many decades communities in West and Central Africa have been facing industrial oil palm plantations encroaching onto their community land. With the false promise of bringing ‘developmentand jobs;corporations;backed up by the support of the governments;have been granted millions of hectares of land under concessions for industrial oil palm plantations. The results of this expansion have been disastrous for communities living in and around these industrial plantations and in particular for women.

Includes an interview with Amanda Massaquoi;member of the Informal Alliance Against Industrial Oil Palm Plantations in West and Central Africa;who is supporting women in Sierra Leone who are opposing the oil palm plantations model. In practice women are not included in decision-making on land and there is a prevalent violence towards women from within communities. Attempts to synchronize all land laws have not been successful.

Report;through a cross-sectoral analysis of three recent case studies from sub-Saharan Africa;maps out the most effective tools and approaches for strengthening rural women’s voices in decision-making processes. The authors examine which are the key factors enabling or constraining rural women’s voices;what the main challenges are that practitioners should be aware of;and how projects can ensure rural women are able to participate in and influence decision making affecting their livelihoods.

The paper aims to understand what land rights women have under formal and customary legal systems in pastoral areas in Ethiopia;how these are implemented and what their impact is;and to make recommendations for their convergence. It focuses on two pastoral regions: Afar and Oromia national regional states. The research revealed that there is a high disparity between what the law says and what is being practiced on the ground as far as women’s land rights in pastoral areas are concerned.

Secure land tenure is key to eradicating poverty;increasing agricultural investment and ensuring food security;and is an essential element of climate action and climate resilience. Yet women have far weaker rights to land than men. These disadvantages exist broadly and with few exceptions globally and are especially limiting to the well-being of women and their families in rural areas;where land is the basis for livelihood;identity;social standing and social security.

A recent study of two Senegalese villages showed how training women on land access is helping them claim their land rights. But disparities in results between locations and the use of customary practices as the preferred way of accessing land highlighted that civil society organisationsstrategies and approaches need to reflect local realities and ensure women from different groups and geographies also benefit.

Describes how community-level dialogues uprooted harmful gender norms that hinder women’s rights to land. Showed that shifting harmful gender norms at the community level is crucial in supporting women to access land rights. Customary leaders like indunas and village headpersons are a key entry point for that shift. Change can be slow. But spaces for dialogue;critical reflection and support for action-planning enabled the indunas to not only change their own beliefs;but also begin to see their role and their communities in a different light.

The article reviews the latest available statistical information on gender inequalities in labor markets and in access to financial institutions, social services, and education.

Women and men have unequal opportunities to address land degradation. While adoption of Sustainable Development Goal target 15.3 leads the world to ‘strive towards land degradation neutrality (LDN)’ by 2030, gender concerns are sparsely considered in LDN programming to date. To achieve LDN in regions with deeply entrenched socio‐cultural norms requires gender‐responsiveness, accounting for the varied gender components of land degradation.