Land
Access and rights to land are vital to agricultural livelihoods and food security. Moreover, land rights underpin access to other natural resources that are critical economic assets. When women have secure rights and the ability to participate in decisions related to land, research has shown that land resources are more likely to be used to improve household wellbeing, including improved food consumption and nutrition.
However, women account for only 11.5 percent of landholders in conflict-affected countries. Gender inequality in tenure systems remains embedded in social and cultural norms, restricting women’s rights and resulting in disproportionate impacts on women. Lack of access to land can leave women vulnerable to physical and livelihood risks, and conflict can exacerbate this vulnerability through displacement, weakened authorities, disrupted social structures, and overall reduced availability of land. Furthermore, as land titles are often prerequisites to obtain credit, agricultural inputs, and other support, women are often denied access to these services which are vital for post-conflict recovery.
Issues of land access and rights are increasingly incorporated into peace agreements. However, there remain significant cultural and political barriers to land security for women, as even countries with formal recognition of women’s equal land rights struggle to guarantee and enforce these rights in practice. Efforts to provide legal and mediation services, prioritize gender-sensitive land reform, and assess women’s roles in natural resource sectors have made progress to empower women to enforce their land rights and meaningfully participate in land management decisions.
Key Resources
Life Can Change: Securing Housing, Land and Property Rights for Displaced Women
In 2011 NRC established a programme of work focused on strengthening displaced women rights to housing, land and property (HLP). This was in response to…Land and Conflict: Toolkit and Guidance for Preventing and Managing Land and Natural Resource Conflict
Conflict arises when two or more groups believe their interests are incompatible. Conflict is not in itself a negative phenomenon. Non-violent conflict can be an…Realizing Women’s Right to Land and Other Productive Resources
The purpose of this publication is to provide detailed guidance for lawmakers and policymakers, as well as civil society organizations and other stakeholders, to support…FAO Gender and Land Rights Database
Land is a crucial resource for poverty reduction, food security and rural development. However, men and women do not always enjoy the same rights to…Women and Land in the Muslim World
Access to land is a key element that allows women and men to fully play their role in building peaceful, stable and prosperous societies and…
Resources
The Rush for Critical Minerals Is Reshaping Communities. Gender Analysis Helps Show Who Pays the Cost.
Spotlight
There are troubling trends at both ends of the minerals supply chain. On one end, communities across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Lithium…
East Africa: “We Are Facing Increased Violent Land Dispossessions and Climate Injustices” – African Women
International
Stories of displacement, land loss, and resilience filled the room as 45 women from six African countries gathered for the East Africa Women’s Land and…
From Sovereignty to Solidarity: First Nations Women Shaping Global Futures - First Nations, Indigenous Women’s Statement
Library
We, First Nations and Indigenous Women and Girls, gender diverse and intersex people from across the lands, waters, oceans, and skies of the world, affirm…
Global: African Women Push for Reparations and Environmental Accountability after Landmark Climate Justice Day
International
Women’s community organizations and grassroots movements across Africa are intensifying calls for climate reparations and environmental accountability following the inaugural African Women’s Climate Justice Day,…
Niger: How Community Shelters Protect Children and Help Women Restore Degraded Lands in Niger
International
Washington, USA, 03 April 2026 -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- Community-built shelters in Niger are enabling mothers to participate in land restoration work by providing shaded…
Liberia: New, Community-Led Conservation Delivering Promises
International
Years ago, women in Wedjah and Jaedae Districts in Sinoe County processed cassava with their bare hands. Their story has changed for the better. They…
How CIMMYT is Advancing Women-centered Agriculture in Africa
Blog
Across Africa, women play a central role in producing food, managing farms, and sustaining household nutrition and incomes. Yet their contributions are still too often…
Emphasize Gender Equality in Water Management Elsewhere
Blog
Only three per cent of the world’s water is freshwater. However, 2.5 per cent of all the world’s water is locked in glaciers, ice-capped polar…
Uganda: How Women are Still Walking Miles for Water and Paying the Price
International
In the vast, sun-scorched plains of Uganda’s northeastern region of Karamoja, the search for water begins before the day has properly broken. In scattered homesteads…
Canada: PBI-Canada Notes Concerns about Risk of Violence to Indigenous Land Defenders, Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA People near Major Projects
International
Peace Brigades International-Canada expresses concern that proposed major extractive projects brings an increased risk of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in communities…
Coping with Climate Change: A Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding Irrigation Technology Outcomes in Gujarat, India
Library
Previous research on climate change interventions highlights that adaptation and mitigation strategies must be tailored to local contexts to effectively benefit both people and the…
Latin America: From the Amazon to Mesoamerica - Women, Science, and Policy are Shaping Resilient Agri-food Systems in Latin America
International
Across Latin America, the transformation of agri-food systems is being driven by a powerful convergence: science, public policy, and the leadership of women farmers and…
Uganda: Alupo Launches African Pastoralist Women Network to Boost Land Rights
International
Vice President Jessica Alupo has officially launched the African Pastoralist Women Network (ARPWN) and a Learning Centre aimed at advancing gender justice, climate resilience, and…
Brazil: Landless Women Mobilize for Agrarian Reform and Against Violence by Brazil
International
This year’s National Day of Landless Women’s Struggles began on March 8 and runs until next Thursday, the 12th, with mobilizations in all regions of…
Why Women Are Central to Resilient Food Systems
Blog
As climate change, economic instability, and biodiversity loss place increasing pressure on global food systems, building resilience has become an urgent priority. But resilience is…
Uganda: Women Are Leading Uganda’s Environmental Transformation - Are We Supporting Them Enough?
International
As Uganda joins the rest of the world to mark International Women’s Day 2026 under the theme “Give to Gain”, we must look beyond celebration…
Liberia: Women’s Land Rights Are Not Favors, They Are Rights as NAWoLaR Officially Launched in Monrovia
International
MONROVIA –The National Alliance for Women’s Land Rights (NAWoLaR) has been officially launched, signaling a unified national front to dismantle discriminatory practices that have long…
South Africa: Women Farmers in South Africa Pay the Cost of Broken Irrigation Systems – The Story of One Cooperative
International
The South African government makes a great deal of the fact that it supports women’s empowerment in agriculture.
But does it?
As an anthropologist, I’ve been engaged…
India: Supporting Women’s Leadership in Agrifood Systems in India
International
Women are key actors in agrifood systems, playing leadership roles in agricultural cooperatives and producers’ organizations, large agribusinesses, and agrifood-related governmental and non-governmental institutions and…
Central African Republic: How Land Empowers Refugee Women and Builds Resilient Livelihoods in the Central African Republic
International
At dawn, the communal field slowly comes to life in the Korsi neighbourhood of Birao in Vakaga, Central African Republic. Women arrive in small groups,…
Free Bodies, Free Territories: Reflections on the Right to Land, Water and Territories for Gender and Sexually Diverse People in Rural Contexts
Blog
How can land and agrarian reform create safe spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community? What does it mean to struggle for recognition and rights to land,…
Women From Rural, Forest, and Waterside Communities Fighting for Comprehensive and Popular Agrarian Reform
International
Grassroots feminist women know that there can be no food sovereignty without women’s autonomy, just as there can be no social justice without land redistribution…
'Still Struggling with the Commons': An Overview of Progress & Problems Securing Community Lands in Africa (Brief No. 08 of "Transforming Conservation: From Conflicts to Justice" Series)
Briefs & Development
This Brief provides main findings from a study of all land and resource laws in force in Africa in 2025 to assess the legal status…
Integrated Assessment of Climate-Related Security Risks for Peace and Security in Blue Nile, Sudan, and Their Gender Dimensions
Library
The Blue Nile State in Sudan is grappling with a severe and escalating crisis, marked by an intensifying conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)…
Peru: In Peru’s Andes, Quechua Women Turn Human-Wildcat Conflict Into Coexistence
International
A new film, Women Secure a Future with Pumas in the Andes, examines how the fear of predators like the puma (Puma concolor), pampas cat…
Indonesia: The Long Struggle of Women Farmers to Halt a Zinc Mine in North Sumatra
International
SILIMA PUNGGA-PUNGGA DISTRICT, Indonesia — Rainim Purba first heard the rumor in 1996. Back then, in her mid-30s, villagers were saying a zinc mining company…
Afghanistan: Saffron Industry Creates Job Opportunities for Afghan Women
International
HERAT, Afghanistan, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Attired in the national dress, Latifa Nuri expressed that working in a saffron field gives her energy and brings…
Seeing Women Behind Supply Chains: A Methodology to Strengthen Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Agrifood Systems
Blog
A new methodology helps agrifood companies meet their gender equality and inclusion commitments by better understanding diverse actors and experiences in their supply chains.
For many…
Pacific Islands: Climate Security in the Pacific: Emerging Trends, Priorities, and Solutions
International
Pacific Island countries are among those most affected by climate change. Rising sea levels, shifting rainfall patterns and increasing extreme weather events threaten land, livelihoods…
Brief: Gender-Responsive Action for Women's Food Security and Nutrition in Asia and the Pacific
Briefs & Development
In 2018, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recognized the impacts of climate change in undermining food security for women, noting that…