Examining Land Inheritance Patterns in Ghana Through a Gender Lens

Abstract

The growing literature on women's land rights in the1990s triggered international development policy support for land titling with the aim of strengthening women's land rights. However, land titling is unlikely to close the gender gap in land ownership if the main mode of acquiring land, inheritance, is not equally available to women and men. The paper draws upon two surveys on gendered access to land ownership to examine how Ghana's customary and formal inheritance institutions affect women's and men's land ownership. The paper shows that men are still overwhelmingly the beneficiaries of inherited land and that, without policies to address this, titling programmes will only perpetuate the gender gap in land ownership that is biased against women. The paper recommends a three-pronged approach that prioritises public education on the benefits of women's land ownership, reform of inheritance laws to promote gender equality and effective enforcement of these laws.