Women and Land in the Arab region

Women’s housing, land and property rights are catalyst to ensure the social and economic development of communities and increase food security. They contribute to the realisation and enjoyment of a broad range of human rights such as the right to adequate standard of living, adequate housing, health, work and education. Housing, land and property rights increase women’s empowerment and participation in decision making within the household and in the public life. They help protecting women from gender-based violence and other health hazards, and they enable women to play an active role in the stabilization of societies affected by crisis and conflict.

The challenges women face in relation to the access and enjoyment of their housing, land and property rights is part of the broader gender inequalities that reflect many aspects of the Arab society. The Women and Land Campaign promoted by UN-Habitat, the Global Land Tool Network and the Arab Land Initiative aims at raising awareness on how to overcome such challenges and at empowering women to improve their housing, land and property rights while drawing the public’s attention to this important theme.

The Campaign is promoted by UN-Habitat, as part of its mandate to achieve a better urban future for all, and by the partners of the Stand for Her Land Campaign, including the World Bank, the International Land Coalition, Landesa, and Habitat for Humanity.

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Key Messages on Women and Land

Empower and Improve the Life of Women by Protecting their Land, Housing and Property Rights in the Arab Region.
Key Messages.Downloads: Arabic, English

	CARD 1 When women have housing, land and property rights… …they are more likely to enjoy a range of interconnected human rights, including adequate standard of living and protection from forced eviction. Downloads Arabic: Square , Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 2 When women have housing, land and property rights… …the power relations within the household are balanced. This enables women to have a bigger say in the household’s decisions and to exit violent relationships. Downloads Arabic: Square , Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 3 When women have housing, land and property rights… …the agricultural productivity and the overall food production increases. Downloads Arabic: Square , Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 4 When women have housing, land and property rights… …their participation in decision-making, within their families and communities, and in the overall political debate increases. Downloads Arabic: Square , Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 5 When women have housing, land and property rights… …they are more likely to have the financial security they need, the household welfare increases and children have better chances to be educated. Downloads Arabic: Square , Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 6 When women have housing, land and property rights… …their autonomy and self-determination increases, improving their lives and their ability to plan for old-age support. Downloads Arabic: Square , Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 7 When women have housing, land and property rights… …they are better protected from violence, extreme weather conditions and other health hazards. Downloads Arabic: Square , Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 8 In displacement and crises-affected contexts, when women have housing, land and property rights… …they are better able to manage the negative economic and social impact of conflict. Downloads Arabic: Square , Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 9 In displacement and crises-affected contexts, when women have housing, land and property rights… …they are better able to provide for themselves and to cope with the lack of family support. Downloads Arabic: Square , Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 10 In displacement and crises-affected contexts, when women have housing, land and property rights… …their engagement in peace processes and the likelihood of peace agreements to be implemented increase. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 11 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Protect women’s land rights at the time of marriage by promoting the registration of marriages through written marital contracts and encouraging joint property arrangements. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 12 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Protect women’s inheritance rights by combatting and regulating renunciation practices through the provision of information, financial and legal aid, and practical support to enable women claiming their inheritance rights in courts or alternative dispute-resolution systems. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 13 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Strengthen women’s rights of use to land and housing by regulating and promoting the use of written tenancy and lease agreements, removing the blockages, simplifying the requirements and providing legal support and mediation for their enforcement. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 14 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Promote the inclusion of women’s names in all types of land tenure documents: individual and joint ownership, lease agreements, occupancy contracts, etc. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 15 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Support women’s access to justice and dispute-resolution mechanisms through the provision of legal assistance, counselling, representation and mediation, and through the removal of practical and logistical barriers. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 16 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Support women’s access to justice and dispute-resolution mechanisms by providing access to non-confrontational land dispute resolution mechanisms that do not jeopardize their family relationships. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 55 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Collect and analyse sex-disaggregated data on land administration processes, land use patterns, issues faced by women in accessing land and other land-related dynamics to guide reforms and decision making. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 17 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Amend discriminatory laws which hinder women’s access to land such as citizenship laws, guardianship laws, etc. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 18 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Harmonize, reconcile and align the provisions in the different legal systems, clarifying how they interface and interact with each other to avoid forum shopping and jurisdictional confusion. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 19 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights for women in displacement and crisis-affected contexts… Remove legal and administrative blockages that prevent displaced women from using, renting or owning houses, land and properties, and promote the use and broker the issuing of written housing, land and property documents. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 20 According to the Islamic law… Women possess independent legal, economic and spiritual identity with respect to access to land and property, and they have the right to acquire, hold, use, administer and dispose of property including land. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 21 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Raise awareness among women and men on the importance of advancing and protecting women’s land and property rights at the national and regional level, among family and community members, and key land actors. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 22 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Raise awareness among decision makers on the economic and social values of women’s work, this will assist them in understanding the benefits they, and their families, will enjoy by guaranteeing women’s equal access to and control over land. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 23 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Protect women’s land rights at the time of marriage by ensuring that marital contracts include different property regimes options, dowry (mahr) arrangements, and define the conditions for settlement in case of divorce. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 24 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Protect women’s land rights at the time of marriage by promoting the inclusion of joint marital property in the national legal and administrative frameworks. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 26 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Develop the capacities of all stakeholders involved in contracting marriage, including couples to be and their families, and other key actors involved in dispute-resolution processes related to marriage and divorce to deal with land and marital property issues. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 27 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Protect women’s inheritance rights by raising awareness on the existing statutory and religious inheritance laws and on the importance of inheritance to fight the negative attitude towards women claiming their inheritance rights. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape
	CARD 29 To increase women’s access to housing, land and property rights in the Arab region… Protect women’s inheritance rights by raising awareness on the existing statutory and religious inheritance laws and on the importance of inheritance to fight the negative attitude towards women claiming their inheritance rights. Downloads Arabic: Square, Landscape English: Square, Landscape