Securing Women’s Land Rights: A Pathway to Food Security
Jun 5, 2025
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Sunaina Kumar
Observer Research Foundation
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Despite playing a central role in food systems, women lack secure land rights in more than half of all countries, posing serious implications for food and climate security.
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Women play a vital role in enhancing food safety and security. They are intrinsic to food systems, participating as farmers, processors, workers, traders, and consumers. They maintain food security in households and communities, and are vital to food supply chains. In developing countries, they produce up to 80 percent of food. In India, for example, women make up nearly 65 percent of the agricultural workforce. Without the contribution of women’s labour, the agricultural economy would not survive. Despite their pivotal role as food producers and providers, women face greater constraints in accessing resources and are simultaneously more vulnerable to food insecurity and its health consequences. Women and girls form the majority of food-insecure people all over the world.
One of the most significant barriers that women face—affecting both food security (access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food) and food safety (integral to food security, it refers to food being free from contamination)—is the lack of secure land rights. Although they contribute to nearly half of the world’s food production, women account for less than 15 percent of agricultural landholders globally, according to the United Nations (UN) Women. Even when women own land, they tend to own smaller plots and of poorer quality than men. This has serious implications for ensuring equitable food systems.
The connection between food security and land rights is well-established and multi-dimensional. Secure land rights are key to building sustainable food systems, eradicating global poverty and hunger, and promoting inclusive economic growth. Land rights are directly linked to household agricultural productivity by encouraging investment in land and improving access to financial services and government programmes. Land rights are essential for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and several of them explicitly mention secure and equal access to land for women, including SDG 1 (No poverty) SDG 2 (Zero hunger), SDG 5 (Gender equality) and SDG 15 (Life on land).