K. Sproule, C. Kieran, C. Doss, & A. Quisumbing Gender, Headship, and the Lifecycle: Landownership...

K. Sproule, C. Kieran, C. Doss, & A. Quisumbing

Gender, Headship, and the Lifecycle: Landownership in

AsiaMarch 24, 2015

World BankWashington, DC

MOTIVATIONOur work on gendered land ownership in Asia (Kieran et al.) establishes that there are gender gaps in landownership, but does not provide guidance on how to reduce them.

Women’s unequal access to and ownership of land held by the household has been argued as the most obvious area of gender disparity (Lastarria-Cornhiel et al. 2014).

Changes in household structure may also affect women’s land rights, whether through marriage or its dissolution (Deer and Doss, 2006).

Because landownership data are rarely available at the individual level, much of the previous analysis has focused on differences in land rights between male and female headed households.

Developing policies to redress gender inequalities in landownership requires nuanced understanding of household and individual characteristics as well as social, cultural, and legal institutions.

EMPIRICAL APPROACHWork with the four nationally representative data sets analyzed in Kieran et al. (2015), but with a closer focus on correlates of landownership (Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Vietnam).

These four countries have different social and cultural norms, as well as very different political histories.

Examine determinants of landownership across households: both the probability of being a landowner as well as the area of land owned.

Examine distribution of land owned within landowning households, using household fixed effects to control for household-level unobservables.

COUNTRY CONTEXT: BangladeshCustomary and religious laws limit women’s ability to own property despite equality under Bangladeshi law.

• Patrilineal/patrilocal • Majority Islamic • Customary practices of

benami and naior• Village exogamy

COUNTRY CONTEXT: TajikistanCultural practices and lack of land rights knowledge limit women’s land ownership.

• Land owned by state but long term lease rights exist

• Patrilineal • Dekhan farm collectives• Difficult process to obtain

individual title; overall percentage of owned land (male or female) is very low

• Higher prevalence of female headed HHs

COUNTRY CONTEXT: Timor-Leste

Customary law predominates; some matrilineal communities, but majority are patrilineal and favor men.

• Constitution guarantees equal land rights to men and women

• Volatile history • Multiple land-use regimes

exist, but customary laws predominate

• Land acquired predominately through inheritance

COUNTRY CONTEXT: Vietnam

Progressive land laws to redress gender disparities in land ownership; cultural norms and inconsistent application of law still hinders women.

• Land owned by state but long term user rights exist (LUCs)• 2003 law requires both husband and wife’s name on asset

documents • Inconsistent enforcement of laws; customary law discriminates

against women • Regional differences

Gender inequalities in the probability of being a landowner are evident

Bangladesh Tajikistan Timor-Leste Vietnam0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Proportion of women in population compared to proportion of landowners

Prop in population Prop in landowners

Male and female landowners have different land and human capital endowments

Bangla

desh

Tajikis

tan

Timor-L

este

Vietnam

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

Average area of land owned by men and women, conditional on owning land

Men Women

Bangla

desh

Tajikis

tan

Timor-L

este

Vietnam

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Years of schooling of male and female landowners

Male owners Female owners

Demographic characteristics of male and female landowners are quite different

Bangla

desh

Tajikis

tan

Timor-L

este

Vietnam

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

Proportion married, male and female landowners


Bangla

desh

Tajikis

tan

Timor-L

este

Vietnam

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

Proportion living in dual-headed households


RESEARCH QUESTIONS1. What is the probability that an individual is a landowner, whether solely or jointly, taking into account individual and household characteristics?

2. What influences the area of land owned by an individual, and do these patterns differ for men and women?

3. What is the intrahousehold distribution of land, by individual, controlling for household-specific unobservables?

EMPIRICAL SPECIFICATIONProbit: Probability of owning any land (whether solely or jointly)= f (sex, headship status, position in household dummies, age categories, marital status, education, household size, household age and sex composition, household land variables, regional dummies)

Tobit: Area of land owned (sum of solely and jointly owned land, in acres) = g (sex, headship status, position in household dummies, age categories, marital status, education, household size, household age and sex composition, household land variables, regional dummies)

OLS with hh fixed effects: Area of individual land owned (whether solely or jointly) minus household land area per adult =h (sex, headship status, female x household structure dummy, female x household land owned, female x whether land is irrigated, female x household size, female x religion and/or ethnicity dummies, age categories, marital status, and schooling, household dummies)

CROSS-COUNTRY FINDINGS: SUMMARYBeing

femaleLowers the probability of being a landownerMen in dual headed households more likely to own land compared to women in other hh types

Being the head of household

Increases the probability of owning land and the average area of land owned

Age Increases probability of landownership

Education level

Increases probability of owning land, with some exceptions

Marital status

Being married increases probability of landownership or area of land owned, but mostly for men

Household size

No consistent patterns across all countries

COUNTRY-SPECIFIC FINDINGSEducation level

In Timor-Leste and Vietnam, more educated individuals own less land area than those with no schooling

In Bangladesh, more educated individuals own less land than those with no schooling

Marital status

Compared to never married persons: in Tajikistan and Vietnam, married individuals are more likely to own land; in Bangladesh, married individuals own larger areas of land

In Bangladesh, divorced women have less land area owned compared to never-married women; “divorce penalty” exists for both men and women in Vietnam

In Tajikistan, divorced individuals have larger areas of land

Determinants of within-household land distribution, by individual, in landowning households with at least one

adult male and adult female

Dependent variable: Individual land owned - household average land area owned per adult

Bangladesh Tajikistan Timor-Leste Vietnam

Sex dummy (female=1) 0.15 0.04 0.12* 0.44***-0.13 (0.03) (0.07) -0.06

Headship dummy (HH head=1) 0.56*** 0.28*** 0.36*** 0.95***-0.05 (0.01) (0.04) -0.03

female x head -0.34*** -0.10*** -0.11 -0.73***-0.12 (0.03) (0.10) -0.06

female x DHH 0.20 0.04*** 0.04 0.08*-0.12 (0.01) (0.06) -0.05

female x MHH 0.06 0.08*** 0.07 0.09-0.17 (0.03) (0.07) -0.08

female x HH land area -0.48*** -0.23*** -0.17*** -0.42***-0.06 (0.02) (0.03) -0.03

female x irrig HH land -0.05* 0.01 -0.02 0.09***-0.03 (0.01) (0.03) -0.03

female x HH size 0.01 0.00 -0.01** -0.01-0.01 (0.00) (0.01) -0.01

FINDINGS FROM INTRAHOUSEHOLD REGRESSION

Sex Women in landowning households own less land relative to the average amount owned per adult

Females in Vietnam and Timor-Leste have larger landholdings compared to household average, owing to policy reform and culture

Head of household

Being the household head increases the size of land owned

However, in Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Vietnam, female heads have less land compared to others within the same household

Household wealth

As the household’s land increases, women tend to own less land relative to the household average

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS• Across counties, being female lowers the

probability of being a landowner.• Being the head of household increases the

likelihood of owning land and the average area of land owned.

• In general, women in each household type are less likely to own land than are men in dual headed households, with some exceptions.

• Individuals in all countries acquire land over the course of the life cycle.

• No consistent patterns across all countries with regards to the relationship between landownership, education, and household size.

CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH

Conclusions

• Tying plot-level data to individual characteristics reveals nuances and helps identify entry points for intervention.

• Because country contexts are different, country-specific results may be most influential in driving policy and advocacy efforts.

Further research

• Explore in more depth the relationship between household wealth and women’s landownership.

• Further investigate effect of marital dissolution on men’s and women’s landownership=> implications for marriage and inheritance law.

• Take into account historical and political factors in making policy recommendations to increase gender equality in land ownership.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Funding for this work was provided by the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR), Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets.

We are grateful to IFPRI colleagues Kamiljon Akramov, Karen Brooks, Chiara Kovarik, Wahid Quabili, and Mara van den Bold, as well as Amber Peterman, a former colleague now at the University of North Carolina, for their guidance in helping us contextualize and analyze the data. We would also like to acknowledge Nynne Warring from the Social Protection Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for helpful comments regarding the Gender and Land Rights Database.

WORKS CITED

• Doss, C. R., C. Kovarik, A. Peterman, A. Quisumbing, and M. van den Bold. Forthcoming. “Gender Inequalities in Ownership and Control of Land in Africa.” Agricultural Economics.

• Ahmed, A. 2013. Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) 2011–2012 (datasets). Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/21266.

• World Bank. 2004. Vietnam 2004 Household Living Standards Survey. http://go.worldbank.org/RJIOLEHYK0.

• ———. 2007a. Tajikistan 2007 Living Standards Measurement Survey. http://go.worldbank.org/JXONKBZTB0.

• ———. 2007b. Timor-Leste 2007 Survey of Living Standards. http://go.worldbank.org/INZX3WYGX0.

http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/21266

http://go.worldbank.org/RJIOLEHYK0

http://go.worldbank.org/JXONKBZTB0

http://go.worldbank.org/INZX3WYGX0

THANK YOU

Table 2: Summary characteristics of adults and landowners 18 and over, by sex, Bangladesh All adults

(n=16,649)Women

(n=13,605)Men

(n=12,622)t-test of

difference (p-value)

All landowners (n=4,753)

Female landowners

(n=1125)

Male landowners

(n=3628)

t-test of difference (p-value)

Individual characteristicsProportion in population 1.00

0.56(0.01)

0.44(0.01)

NA 0.25(0.01)

0.2(0.02)

0.8 (0.02)

0.00

Age (years) 40.02(0.48)

40.68(0.74)

39.17(0.57)

0.11 50.13(0.62)

48.71(1.08)

50.48(0.67)

0.12

Proportion married 0.67(0.016)

0.69(0.02)

0.65(0.02)

0.15 0.84(0.02)

0.57(0.05)

0.91(0.02)

0.00

Education (years) 4.24(0.17)

3.68(0.18)

4.95(0.25)

0.00 3.34(0.12)

2.46(0.21)

3.55(0.13)

0.00

Proportion owning land 0.25(0.01)

0.09(0.01)

0.46(0.01)

0.00 1.00 NA NA NA

Area of land owned by individual (acres)

NA NA NA NA 0.75(0.04)

0.51(0.08)

0.81(0.05)

0.00

Household characteristicsa

Household size 5.05(0.09)

5.05(0.11)

5.05(0.08)

0.93 4.71(0.07)

4.05(0.13)

4.87(0.07)

0.00

Whether HH is dual-headed0.94(0.01)

0.93(0.01)

0.96(0.00)

0.00 0.94(0.01)

0.81(0.02)

0.97(0.00)

0.00

Whether HH is male-headed0.03(0.00)

0.03(0.01)

0.02(0.00)

0.24 0.03(0.00)

0.04(0.01)

0.02(0.00)

0.28

Whether HH is female headed0.03(0.00)

0.04(0.00)

0.01(0.00)

0.00 0.04(0.00)

0.15(0.02)

0.01(0.00)

0.00

Dependency ratio 1.21(0.07)

1.29(0.11)

1.10(0.08)

0.15 1.50(0.11)

1.29(0.14)

1.56(0.13)

0.14

Total land area owned by household (acres)

1.03(0.09)

1.01(0.10)

1.05(0.12)

0.75 0.90(0.05)

0.96(0.12)

0.89(0.05)

0.57

Proportion living in HHs w/ irrigated land

0.63(0.02)

0.64(0.02)

0.62(0.02)

0.29 0.59(0.02)

0.60(0.04)

0.59(0.02)

0.90

a Characteristics of the households in which the female or male adults or landowners live.Notes: Standard errors in parentheses. Table uses individual weights for all adults 18 and over.

Table 3: Summary characteristics of adults and landowners 18 and over, by sex, Tajikistan All adults

(n=17,627)

Women

(n=9,280)

Men

(n=8347)



Female landowner

(n=504)

Male landowners(n=2,758)


Individual characteristicsProportion in population 1.00 0.52 0.48 NA 1.00 0.14 0.86 0.00

Age (years) 36.99(0.16)

36.29(0.18)

37.74(0.21) 0.00 54.04

(0.42)56.99(0.85)

53.58(0.42) 0.00


0.67(0.01)

0.71(0.01) 0.00 0.87

(0.01)0.29

(0.03)0.96

(0.01) 0.00


9.87(0.07)

11.26(0.06) 0.00 10.96

(0.11)8.38

(0.26)11.36(0.10) 0.00


0.05(0.00)

0.31(0.01) 0.00 1.00 NA NA NA

Area of land owned by the individual NA NA NA NA 0.26

(0.01)0.25

(0.02)0.26

(0.01) 0.35



8.57(.12)

8.65(.12) 0.02 7.99

(0.10)7.45(.19)

8.07(0.11) 0.00

Whether the HH is dual-headed 0.86(0.01)

0.84(0.01)

0.88(0.01) 0.00 0.87

(0.01)0.32

(0.03)0.95

(0.01) 0.00

Whether the HH is male-headed 0.03(0.00)

0.02(0.00)

0.04(0.00) 0.00 0.03

(0.00)0.00

(0.00)0.03

(0.00) 0.00

Whether the HH is female headed

0.11(0.01)

0.14(0.01)

0.08(0.01) 0.00 0.10

(0.01)0.68

(0.03)0.01

(0.00) 0.00


0.85 (0.01)

0.81 (0.01) 0.00 0.99

(0.02)1.11

(0.05)0.96

(0.02) 0.00


0.33(0.02)

0.33(0.02)

0.34(0.02) 0.12 0.42

(0.02)0.37

(0.03)0.42

(0.02) 0.09


0.63(0.02)

0.63(0.02)

0.64(0.02) 0.13 0.82

(0.02)0.84

(0.03)0.82

(0.02) 0.39a Characteristics of the households in which the female or male adults or landowners live.Notes: Standard errors in parentheses. Table uses individual weights for all adults 18 and over.

Table 4: Summary characteristics of adults and landowners 18 and over, by sex, Timor-Leste All adults

(n=12,449)

Women

(n=6,473)

Men

(n=5,976)



Female landowners

(n=517)

Male landowners (n=3,314)


Individual characteristicsProportion in population 1.00 0.52 0.48 NA 1.000 0.16 0.84 0.00

Age (years) 36.30(0.23)

37.16(0.28)

35.35(0.31) 0.00 46.26

(0.47)50.50(1.02)

45.45(0.51) 0.00


0.60(0.01)

0.51(0.01) 0.00 0.78

(0.01)0.20

(0.03)0.89

(0.01) 0.00


4.27(0.18)

6.23(0.17) 0.00 3.05

(0.16)1.27

(0.24)3.38

(0.19) 0.00


0.06(0.00)

0.35(0.01) 0.00 1.00 NA NA NA

Area of land owned by individual (in acres) NA NA NA NA 0.60

(0.04)0.71

(0.11)0.59

(0.04) 0.20



6.96(0.14)

7.14(0.14) 0.03 5.61

(0.08)4.79

(0.24)5.77(.08) 0.00

Whether HH is dual-headed 0.84(0.01)

0.83(0.01)

0.84(0.01) 0.35 0.81

(0.01)0.26

(0.04)0.92

(0.01) 0.00

Whether HH is male-headed 0.05(0.01)

0.03(0.00)

0.07(0.01) 0.00 0.06

(0.01)0.02

(0.01)0.07

(0.01) 0.00

Whether HH is female headed 0.11(0.01)

0.14(0.01)

0.09(0.01) 0.00 0.12

(0.01)0.72(.04)

0.01(0.00) 0.00


1.04(0.03)

0.96(0.02) 0.00 1.23

(0.03)0.91

(0.05)1.29

(0.03) 0.00

Total land area owned by household (in acres)

0.56(0.06)

0.44(0.08)

0.68(0.08) 0.00 1.32

(0.16)1.24

(0.20)1.33

(0.16) 0.67


0.09(0.01)

0.07(0.01)

0.10(0.01) 0.00 0.15

(0.02)0.15(.03)

0.16(.02) 0.79

a Characteristics of the households in which the female or male adults or landowners liveNotes: Standard errors in parentheses. Table uses individual weights for all adults 18 and over.

Table 5: Summary characteristics of adults and landowners 18 and over, by sex, Vietnam All adults

(n=16,649)Women

(n=13,605)Men

(n=12,622)t-test of

difference (p-value)


Female landowners

(n=1125)

Male landowners

(n=3628)


Individual characteristicsProportion in population 1.00

0.51

(0.00)0.49

(0.00)NA 0.27

(0.00)0.31

(0.01)0.69 (0.01)

0.00

Age (years) 40.13(0.14)

41.14(0.19)

39.08(0.15)

0.00 50.62(0.22)

51.84(0.32)

50.05(0.22)

0.00


0.63(0.01)

0.65(0.01)

0.00 0.87(0.01)

0.66(0.01)

0.96(0.00)

0.00


7.56(0.10)

8.47(0.09)

0.00 7.86(0.09)

7.32(0.14)

8.08(0.09)

0.00


0.16(0.00)

0.38(0.01)

0.00 1.00 NA NA NA

Average area of land owned by individual (acres)

NA NA NA NA 0.95(0.04)

0.71(0.04)

1.06(0.04)

0.00



5.44(0.01)

5.45(0.05)

0.50 4.97(0.04)

4.7(0.05)

5.09(0.04)

0.00

Whether HH is dual-headed 0.85(0.01)

0.81(0.01)

0.88(0.01)

0.00 0.86(0.01)

0.67(0.01)

0.95(0.00)

0.00

Whether HH is male-headed

0.03(0.00)

0.02(0.00)

0.04(0.00)

0.00 0.02(0.00)

0.00(0.00)

0.03(0.00)

0.00

Whether HH is female headed

0.13(0.01)

0.16(0.01)

0.09(0.00)

0.00 0.11(0.00)

0.32(0.01)

0.02(0.00)

0.00


0.52(0.01)

0.48(0.01)

0.00 0.56(0.01)

0.53(0.01)

0.58(0.01)

0.00


0.84(0.03)

0.82(0.03)

0.86(0.04)

0.00 1.01(0.04)

0.80(0.04)

1.10(0.04)

0.00


0.46(0.01)

0.46(0.01)

0.47(0.01)

0.06 0.60(0.01)

0.53(0.02)

0.63(0.01)

0.00

a Characteristics of the households in which the female or male adults or landowners liveNotes: Standard errors in parentheses. Table uses individual weights for all adults 18 and over.

K. Sproule, C. Kieran, C. Doss, & A. Quisumbing Gender, Headship, and the Lifecycle: Landownership...

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