SDG 5.a.2 - Proportion of countries where the legal framework guarantees women’s land rights

The data included in this dataset reflects indicator 5.a.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which measures the proportion of countries where the legal framework (including customary law) guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and/or control. 

This indicator is under:

Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls"

Target 5.a - Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws

This indicator serves to measure progress towards this target and is currently classified as Tier II. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is the main Custodian agency. UN Women and the World Bank are partner agencies.

SDG indicator 5.a.2 measures the extent to which a country’s legal framework supports women’s ownership and/ or control over land including inheritance rights for women and girls.

Progress towards the SDG target will be determined by the extent to which countries have incorporated internationally recognized standards, particularly from the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) and the International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), into their legal frameworks. Existing statutory laws are assessed against the six following proxies:

Proxy A: Joint registration of land compulsory or encouraged through economic incentives

Proxy B: Compulsory spousal consent for land transactions

Proxy C: Women’s and girls’ equal inheritance rights

Proxy D: Allocation of financial resources to increase women’s ownership and control over land

Proxy E: In legal systems that recognise customary land tenure, existence of explicit protection of the land rights of women

Proxy F: Mandatory quotas for women’s participation in land management and administration institutions

For more information, check also this indicator's page on Land Portal’s SDG portfolio.

Official data for SDG indicator 5.a.2 is currently only available for proxy E:

1. Women's property rights to land are equal to men's in law