Explaining the Gender Gap: Women and Land Titling in Kenya

• In Event: Political Economy of Rural Politics

Abstract

Development scholars and practitioners acknowledge the transformative potential in formalizing the land rights of women. Yet across much of the Global South, women’s land rights remain significantly weaker than their male counterparts. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), women constitute only 18 percent of all agricultural landowners. Explanations for this gender gap focus on the role of discriminatory gender rules and norms, as well as disparities in education and literacy. Indeed, national laws and practices may help explain much of the observed variation in women’s land rights between countries. We know far less, however, about why women’s tenure security might vary sub-nationally.

We examine this question drawing on data from Kenya’s recent land titling program. Between 2013-2017, the Kenyan government issued 3.2 million title deeds to individual households. Yet despite constitutional provisions guaranteeing women the right to own property, only 10 percent of these title deeds were issued to women. There is, however, striking sub-national variation. In some counties, nearly 50% of title deed recipients were women, while in others, women received fewer then 3 percent of all issued title deeds. As a way of explaining this variation, we combine individual-level data on recipients of title deeds along with a number of local-level variables. Preliminary analysis suggests that conventional explanations, relating to urbanization, poverty, education, religion, and cultural practices do not account for much of the observable variation. Instead, we hypothesize that women are more likely to acquire land rights in spaces where women hold greater local political power – measured by the number of women judges, local elected or appointed seats held by women, including chieftaincy positions, and participation in self-help groups. We also consider the role that political violence plays in rupturing traditional gender norms around land, in some cases increasing the possibilities for great gender equity in tenure rights. This paper aims to contribute to theories of property rights, economic development, and gender politics, highlighting the local institutional factors that enable or restrain the economic and political rights of women.

Authors

• Mai Omer Hassan, MIT

• Kathleen Klaus, Uppsala University