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Women's Land Rights and Village Institutions in Tanzania

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Abstract

Strengthening women's ownership of and control over land is an important development goal. This paper studies the extent of women's land rights in rural Tanzania and how patrilineal norms affect them. We show that married women in rural Tanzania still own little land without their husbands and have limited rights over the jointly owned land. In Tanzania, an inherent tension lies in the recognition of customary laws that explicitly discriminate against women and statutory laws that establish equal rights for men and women. Customary patrilineal practices persist. In particular, we find that firstborn sons are expected to inherit more land than firstborn daughters, and widows' inheritance rights are affected by the gender of their children. We also show that women's tenure security in case of divorce or inheritance is fragile. In Tanzania, village institutions play a key role in the management of land rights and the mediation of land disputes. We find that members of village institutions have more pro-women views on land rights than the average household respondent. However, using randomized vignettes to measure gender bias, we show they do not always make gender-neutral recommendations in case of land disputes. Classification- O17, O12, D13, K11

Suggested Citation

  • Garance Genicot & Maria Hernandez de Benito, 2021. "Women's Land Rights and Village Institutions in Tanzania," Working Papers gueconwpa~21-21-21, Georgetown University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:geo:guwopa:gueconwpa~21-21-21
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    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Lekfuangfu, Warn N. & Powdthavee, Nattavudh & Riyanto, Yohanes E., 2023. "Luck or rights? An experiment on preferences for redistribution following inheritance of opportunity," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    3. Chrispinus Mutsami & Martin C. Parlasca & Matin Qaim, 2026. "Women's Off‐Farm Employment and Dietary Quality in Rural Africa," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(2), pages 477-492, June.
    4. repec:bcp:journl:v:10:y:2026:i:5:p:12905-12922 is not listed on IDEAS

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    JEL classification:

    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • K11 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Property Law

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