Rural Womens Access to Land and Property in Selected Countries

Rural Womens Access to Land and Property in Selected Countries

Descripción

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), ratified by 175 countries, is the only human rights treaty that deals specifically with rural women. This study, undertaken jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Land Coalition (ILC), analyses information on the status of rural women as provided in selected reports to the Committe e on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. All countries selected for this study submitted a report to the Committee between 1997 and 2003. Most are low-income, food-deficit countries. Those that are not have been selected because they have completed or are undertaking land or agricultural reforms that are of particular interest. This report examines the extent to which women’s rights have been respected in those reforms and looks at measures that have been adopted to ensu re women’s access to land and property, their inheritance rights and their legal capacity. It also presents sex-disaggregated statistics on rural populations and the rural labour force, and information on gender units or focal points in technical ministries.