Tools for Gender Responsive Land Governance

Land is an asset that allows its owner access to loans to build their houses and to set up small businesses in cities. In rural areas, land is essential for livelihoods, subsistence, and food security. However, land is a scarce resource governed by a wide range of rights and responsibilities. And not everyone's right to land is secure. Despite progress on women's rights on some fronts over the last few decades, it is recognised that women's access to land and security of tenure still persist. Women are disproportionately affected by gender blind/neutral approaches. More needs to be done to impact women's access to land truly.

Governments, civil society, land professionals, and analysts generally point to the scarcity of practical land tools that are both gender-responsive and can be up- scaled to reach large populations, hindering the realisation of these rights. However, there is no existing global inventory of gender-responsive land tools. Still, through data collection and information exchange, stakeholders will identify gaps and engender them further according to context. This tool inventory is testimony to actual practice, which will inform policy implementation. It will demonstrate the gap between theory and reality. It is also a vital building block towards gendering affordable large-scale land tools. It will provide practical ways to solve problems in land administration and management; these range from a simple check-list for conducting a survey to a broad set of guidelines and approaches.