In rural Africa and the Middle East, many ecosystems are on the verge of collapse. The interplay of social, ecological, and political-economic forces has compromised the ability of farmers to sustain their precious soil. As a result, farmers, and especially women farmers, face a constant daily struggle to survive.
This study stresses the importance of land for the rural poor as a source of livelihood and describes the gendered and often inequitable experience of access to land and other natural resources. It also provides a set of guidelines for actions to increase women's access to land, including awareness raising, and emphasises the need for better contextual udnerstanding of the gendered aspects in land allocation and adjudication. The report also provides suggestions for indicators of secure land access prior to, during and after programs of intervention.
A Guidebook on Women Human Rights Defenders is aimed to help women human rights defenders name the specific risks, violations and constraints they face in their work. It presents a practical discussion of the useful mechanisms developed by the state and also the civil society to provide redress and remedy, and to protect women human rights defenders. It is intended to be used by human rights and other organisations to further a gender perspective in the monitoring and documentation of human rights.
Women in many countries are far less likely than men to own property and assets - key tools to gaining economic security and earning higher incomes. Though laws to protect women's property rights exist in most countries, gender and cultural constraints can prevent women from owning or inheriting property. In this series, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) suggests practical steps to promote, protect and fulfill women's property rights.
In 2004, FAO, IFAD, and the International Land Coalition (ILC) jointly published a report on progress towards the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), with respect to the status of rural women. This report provided an historical background to CEDAW and its Optional Protocol (OP 1999) as well as an overview on land issues as reflected in the reports submitted by States Parties.
This report is the fruit of collaboration between ILC, IFAD and FAO. It provides information on the historical background of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol, the working methods of the Committee, reservations, as well as a summary of information provided in reports of selected countries.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) - currently ratified by 187 countries - is the only human rights treaty that deals specifically with rural women (Art. 14). Adopted in 1979 by the United Nations Generally Assembly, entered into force in 1981. The Convention defines discrimination against women as follows:
This publication, from the Global Land Tool Network, presents a mechanism for effective inclusion of women and men in land tool development and outlines methodologies and strategies for systematically developing land tools that are responsive to both women and men’s needs. Equal property rights for women and men are fundamental to social and economic gender equality. However, women often face discrimination in formal, informal and customary systems of land tenure.
Drawing from field research in Cameroon, Ghana, Viet Nam, and the Amazon forests of Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, this book explores the relationship between gender and land, revealing the workings of global capital and of people’s responses to it.
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