UNEQUAL RIGHTS: WOMEN

AND PROPERTY
International Aid Policy Debate
Khawaja Ali
15RB909
Structural Engineering Laboratory
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Fujikake.Y

Gender Inequality
Health
Education
Empowerment
Employment
Participation in politics
Discrimination and
violence against women

Women Rights in US-A Brief History

During the time of the Revolutionary War(late
1700s) it was believed that a womans brain was
smaller in capacity than mens brain
Therefore women were inferior
Early 19th Century Women
Unable to vote
Single could own her own property but
unsafe
Married no control over her property or her
children.
Could not initiate divorce.
Couldnt make wills, sign a contract, or bring
suit in court without her husbands
permission.
Cult of Domesticity
Developed throughout 1800s
The ideal of womanhood had four characteristics:
1. Piety
2. Purity
3. Domesticity 4. Submissiveness

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in rights and
dignity. They are endowed with reason and conscious and should
act with one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2: Everyone is entitled with all rights and freedoms set
forth without any distinction such as race, color, gender,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, property, birth or other status..
Article 3: Everyone has right to life, liberty and security of life.
Article 4: Everyone has right to own property alone as well as in
association with other, no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of
his/her property.

United Nations Human Rights Bodies

http://www.auschwitzinstitute.org/blog/education-for-genprev-24-september-2012/

UN Conferences for Women

First women conference was held in Mexico in 1975 attended by
more than 1000 people
Second conference in 1979 attended by 145 delegates

Third in Nairobi (capital city of Kenya) in 1985

Fourth in Beijing in 1995
UNIFEM (united nations development funds for women) came into
existence in 1976
Habitat II, the second UN Habitat summit, 1996, Istanbul (United
Nation Human Settlement Programme)

Problems Faced by Women

Education & illiteracy

Unemployment
Domestic violence
Family problems
Dowry dilemma
Male dominated factor
Own immoveable property, land
unequal share in parents property
Neglect in childhood
Gender bias
Homeless

The Situation of Women and PropertyProblems Identified

Inequalities- The reason
Why property is important for women
Womens and mens relation to land & housing

Economic restructuring programs are only one symptom of

globalization which privatizes property ownership
Effect of privatization of property on women and men

Patrilineal kinship and Matrilineal kinship

Subsistence production system and formal ownership system
In former, land was never formally owned, both men and
women had rights to use land equally
In later, patrilineal kinship system is more dominating and
men are main property holders

http://www.slideshare.net/capriaccount/cap-ri-fullposterseries

Current Evidence of Inequality

Urbanization and rapid growth of unplanned and informal settlements
affect property rights so it affects women more than men
Women without husbands live in refugee camps. (Rwanda and Burndi
in mid 1990s)
Womens lack of equal property rights with men causes feminization of
poverty
Men are inherently capital holder but women are not, hence poverty
ensues.
In many places, there are legal restrictions on womens equal rights to
own property
Even where women have legally recognized rights, social constraints
can prevent them from being realized (e.g., East Africa)

In such cases, women try to obtain land as collectives or womens

groups
This causes discriminations against women and causes poverty

Current Evidence of Inequality

A limited data shows that women own less than 1% of worlds property

In many countries, women living under religious laws do not have same
rights as men to own property.

From recent research, socially discriminatory practices are even more

widespread than had been thought

Legal research in three east African countries shows the extent of

disenfranchisement (Benschop 2002)

Southeast Asian showing how agrarian customs deny women equal rights
(Tinker and Summerfield 1999b)

Kosovo studies also show same situation (Williams & Lee-Smith 2000)

The social pressures stop women from having their property rights.

These studies reveal the problem of unequal property rights for women is
essentially the same throughout the world.

Collective action on womens property rights

Bringing womens concerns to policy level

During 1980s and 1990s era, pressure for womens rights came about
Campaigns of housing as a womens right were waged in Latin America
Issue of unequal property rights resonated powerfully among women from
all regions
Beijing conference in 1995

Four global womens networks formed a Super-Coalition on Women, Homes

and Community to lobby on womens issues of homes and communities

There were two significant events in Beijing

The first was about Inheritance clause

The second was formation of The Huairou Commission

Habitat II Conference in Istanbul in 1996

Among numerous references in the Habitat Agenda, paragraph 40(b)
asserts the commitment of participating states to:
Providing legal security of tenure and equal access to land to all people, including women and

those living in poverty; and undertaking legal and administrative reforms to give women full and
equal access to economic resources, including the right to inheritance and to ownership of land
and other property, credit, natural resources and appropriate technologies.

Collective Action on Womens Property Rights

Policy Action and Interaction
International meetings by HABITAT in 1995 in Gavle, Sweden and in
Kigali, Rwanda, in 1998, together with UN development program
(UNDP), the UN fund for women (UNIFEM), and UN high commission
for refugees (UNHCR) (UN-HABITAT 1999)
Governments have likewise taken up the challenges
In Africa, many countries have made administrative reforms
When governments reviewed the implementation of the 1996 Habitat
agenda at a special session of the UN General assembly in 2001,
they made further commitments on womens property rights
specifically their right to enter into contractual agreements.
During the same session, UN bodies agreed to collaborate on
promoting womens property rights through coordinated action

Collective Action on Womens Property Rights

Policy Action and Interaction
UNDP and UNIFEM proposed to join
forces on womens property rights with
UN-HABITATs Secure Tenure Campaign
and the UN High Commission on
Human Rights (UNHCHR)
As a result of several advocacy events in
2000 and 2001, a larger NGO land
caucus was formed around sustainable
development and human settlement
issues, including womens property rights.
And womens rights division of human
rights watch has taken up special
initiatives on womens property rights,
starting in 2002

Collective Action on Womens Property Rights

The Case of Uganda

Use of Uganda is one the most effective efforts so far

This has occurred because of active lobby groups that keep this issue in public
mind

Paralegals know the constitutional rights of women and they explain them to
people

Paralegals are backed up by NGOs

Still some parts of country is not receiving resources required and have no
successful approach of equal rights

Over 90% of cases are brought forward by women

In 1998, it was found that 58% of cases brought involved land and inheritance,
and about 20% involved custody and maintenance of children. The remainder
dealt with marital conflict and small number were about child defilement.

Although several NGOs are running these programs but they are not able to
cover the total area, even in the districts where they operate.

Local NGOs have kept this initiative alive for over a decade, taking advantage of
larger networks such as the Habitat International Coalition and the Huairou
Commission to spread the word and employing now proven techniques for
ensuring that women attain rights to property (Mazingira Institute 1992-2003).

Women's Customary Rights in Uganda

2013 UPDATE:

A new National Land Policy was approved by the Ugandan government

in April 2013.
It recognizes the gap between womens land rights in law and in
practice and directs the government to pass legislation to protect the
right to inheritance and ownership of land for women and children,
and to ensure equal land rights for men and women in marriage. It
calls for an overhaul of the Succession Act and revisions to the Land
Act, and for the restoration of powers of land administration to
traditional leaders, provided they are sensitive to the rights of
vulnerable groups.

http://www.focusonland.com/countries/women
s-customary-rights-in-uganda/

Recommendation for Policy and Action

A Theoretical Basis for Policy Recommendation
Global recommendation made in the Kigali Plan of Action of 1998 still
holds as a clear statement of policy intention:
Women should have adequate and secure rights to property. These
rights must be equal to those of men and a woman should not be
dependent upon a man in order to secure or enjoy those rights (Peace
for Homes 1998).

Rights and freedoms are not ideas that, one conceived, implement
themselves. They must entail the social mechanisms needed to
implement them, including economic development.
Martha Nussbaum urges us to engage with the Capabilities Approach.

This approach is particularly relevant to achieving womens rights, as

women are so often seen as the means to achieve their childrens and
families well-being rather than as subjects in their own right
Women have rights as persons and all persons themselves deserve to be
treated with love, care and dignity.

Equal property rights are but one aspect of the rights framework that
needs to be realized for full human - and sustainable and equitable
economic developments (Nussbaum 2000)

Recommendation for Policy and Action

A framework for policy and Action
Now we have several international policy commitments in place on
womens property rights. What is needed is coordinated action on a
broad front to implement them
Statement in eight session of the commission on sustainable
development still applies
womens movements and public agencies need to further coordinate
their efforts in campaigning for womens equal rights to land. All of
these ongoing activities need to be linked with CSD activities and
synergies built up between partners
In any given case, It may be necessary to
Address the substance of womens property rights through
research and legal reform.
Make necessary structural and institutional changes to ensure
effective application of the law by the courts, administration and
enforcement agencies.
Address the cultural aspects of shared attitudes and behaviors
of the population, including the barriers placed by informal
institutions, through education.

Recommendation
There is a need of further research and data on
the situation of womens property rights on the
ground and on the effects of actions that being
taken to address them.

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_women_in_the_Unit
ed_States
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translati
ons/eng.pdf
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/
Unequal Rights: women and poverty by Diana Lee-Smith and
Catalina Hinchey Trujillo

https://www.hrw.org/africa/uganda