Reforming Women's Property Rights in Afghanistan

Sep 6, 2017 | Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Becky Allen
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On paper, the law is clear: men and women enjoy equal property rights under Afghanistan's 2004 Constitution. But on-the-ground reality says otherwise as a combination of tradition and customary laws keep most Afghan women unaware of their land rights and far from owning property.

As the Afghan Ministry of Justice estimates, 90 percent of Afghans decide land rights according to customary laws – regulations developed and instituted at the regional and tribal level. For this reason, few Afghan women are able to capitalize on their right to inherit and own property.

While customary law varies throughout the country, it typically pressures a woman to relinquish her share of an inheritance to her brothers in order to ensure her social protection in case of divorce; demonstrate family loyalty; and avoid discrimination and shame at the hands of her community. The cultural expectation is that a woman's husband will become her economic provider and therefore she does not need her own land in her name. According to this view, it simply makes more economic sense for a woman to leave her share of land to her brothers, who will use it to provide for their families while her own husband looks after her.