Gender and property rights in Sub-Saharan Africa: a review of constraints and effective interventions

Michael O'Sullivan

No 8250, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Strengthening women's ownership, control, and use of land, livestock, and savings assets matters for poverty and shared prosperity, as unequal property rights can lead to intrahousehold inequality in wealth; allocative inefficiencies, which are costly in lost economic output and productivity growth; and women's control over household resources and spending decisions, with welfare implications for this generation and the next. Yet, there is ample evidence to show that the distribution and control of these key assets are skewed toward men across Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper examines the underlying constraints that potentially give rise to these inequalities, assesses the impact evaluation evidence on how to narrow existing gaps and boost welfare, and outlines a set of priority research and policy questions. On land, the review uncovers promising evidence on joint land titling and notes the need for work from urban settings and complementary interventions that address multiple market failures. On savings, those products with an element of illiquidity and a soft commitment show promise for women in experimental settings. On livestock, the review points to a striking dearth of evidence on the causal impact of livestock transfer programs -- aside from bundled ultra-poor programs and nutrition interventions.

Keywords: Social Policy; Agricultural Economics; Legal Products; Common Property Resource Development; Legislation; Regulatory Regimes; Microfinance; Climate Change and Agriculture; Dairies and Dairying; Judicial System Reform; Rural Microfinance and SMEs; Legal Reform (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-11-21
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/320181511273907749/pdf/WPS8250.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8250

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().