There are 2.5 billion people worldwide who rely directly on collective land tenure systems for their livelihoods, social relations and cultural identities. Collective land tenure systems are communities or groups of people who share the rights to use and manage land. In addition to group rights, in some collective tenure systems each member of the community holds specific rights to distinct resources and land. Most indigenous and customary communities hold land under collective tenure.

Women make up more than half of this population, and they play vital roles in their communities. They are the traditional subsistence producers and are primarily responsible for collecting natural resources — such as water, fuelwood, fodder, and wild plants and herbs — for household use or supplemental income.

Yet not all indigenous and customary communities recognize women’s land rights in the collective, thus missing out on key economic, social and environmental benefits.
Women’s Land Tenure Presents Economic, Social and Environmental Benefits

In some communities, women may only have access to communal land derived from their husbands or male relatives, land that is often tied to their marital status. This makes a woman’s tenure insecure, meaning that she could lose her rights to the land if her husband dies or they get divorced, an event that could drive her and her children into poverty.

Women also comprise a significant portion of the agricultural labor force, but are a minority of agricultural landholders. Even when they do have rights to land, their plots are often smaller and of lesser quality than those belonging to men.

To explore the potential of women’s tenure rights in collectively held lands, WRI studied five communities in five countries where women have strong and secure land tenure: two community forest groups in Cameroon and Nepal; two indigenous communities in Indonesia and Mexico; and a pastoral community in Jordan.

The study found that when women’s land tenure rights are legally and socially recognized and secure, women and their communities reap important economic, social and environmental benefits.