Cheryl Doss

Yale University

Assets may be used to:• Generate income

• Facilitate access to credit and

capital

• Store wealth

• Reduce vulnerability

and protect against

shocks

Assets may be broadly defined, to include education, access to resources, etc.

Or narrowly defined to include physical and financial assets.

Assets are owned by individuals, not

households.

Documents and deeds have individual

names

Ownership of assets affects bargaining

power; household outcomes differ

depending on who owns the assets.

Important to know who claims assets if

household dissolves

EquityDifferent uses of assets by women and

menMen and women may experience poverty

and vulnerability differentlyWomen are vulnerable to the dissolution of

their household, due to death or divorce Impact on well-being, bargaining power,

and empowerment

Increases women’s role in decision-making within household and community

Better health and education outcomes for children

May be protective against violence May have a role in moving households

out of poverty

Marriage

Inheritance

Gifts and transfers

Market Purchases

State

The patterns differ by type of asset

and by gender.

Land

Housing

Other real estate

Livestock

Agricultural equipment

Consumer durables

Business assets

Financial savings and loans

Marital regime determines women’s property rights within marriage:

• Separation of property – assets are individually owned

• Full community property – all assets are pooled, if marriage dissolves assets are split

• Partial community property – assets acquired before marriage remain individually owned; assets acquired during marriage are pooled

Community property regimes recognize

women’s contributions to the household –

women own half of the marital property,

even if they did not purchase it

themselves.

Under community property regimes, there is

less of a gender-asset gap.

Both laws and social norms affect

inheritance.

Key inheritance issues include:

Testamentary freedom

What happens if one dies intestate

Whether sons and daughters inherit

equally The share that is received by the

widow.

To understand patterns of asset ownership, it is critical to know whether they are owned jointly or individually.

No evidence yet to suggest which is better for women.

Uganda results indicate that when land is owned jointly by a couple, women have fewer rights over it than do men.

Access: the right to be on the land, such as the right to walk across a field

Withdrawal: the right to take something from the land, such as to collect water or firewood

Management: the right to change the land in some way, such as to plant crops or trees

Exclusion: the right to prevent others from using the land

Alienation: the right to transfer land to others through rental, bequest, or sale

Perceived or reported ownership: Respondent identifies who owns the land

Documented ownership: Name is on ownership document

Rights over the asset: right to sell, bequeath, rent out, mortgage/pawn

Decision-making rights over the assetSpecific, but limited rights, such as

milking rights

Finally, there is data on individual level asset ownership so that we can begin to:

Calculate the gender asset and wealth gaps

Analyze ownership vs. access vs. controlUnderstand how to promote women’s

asset ownership? Examine how men’s and women’s assets

are affected by shocks?

The Gender Asset Gap Project, “In Her

Name,” Dutch MDG3 Fund

Pathways to Ensuring Women’s Access to

Assets: Land Tenure and Beyond, AMA-

CRSP

Impact of Idiosyncratic shocks on assets,

AMA-CRSP, the Swiss Development

Corporation, and the World Bank

Gender, Agriculture and Assets Project,

IFPRI/ILRI, Bill and Melinda Gates Fdn.