Property and inheritance rights
Women's access to property is critical for their economic security and for the economic security of their children.
When women own their own assets, they also have more independence and a bigger role in decision making in their households and communities.
All this helps improve the strength and prosperity of societies. But around the world, women find obstacles in their way to owning property.
Long-standing traditions which put all land and property in the hands of men, inadequate laws, ineffective courts and a lack of education conspire against women's legitimate rights to assets.
These traditional and legal barriers often damage women, their families and development efforts.
Women make up half the world's population, but they own only a tiny proportion of the world's assets.
In Sub-Saharan Africa more than eighty per cent of farmers are women, yet very few have secure rights to the land they farm. Worldwide, women own just 10 per cent of all assets.
Tradition and customary law dictate that land use, housing and the transfer of land and housing within families and between generations, largely excludes women. More »