ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the legal framework of securing equal land rights between women and men in China. It focuses on the sample survey undertaken in Shanxi Province in 1996, examines the state of land distribution, identifies the causes of gender inequality in terms of security of land rights, and determines the impact of "insecure" land rights on the socioeconomic status of women. The chapter examines the policy implications and discusses that the legislative framework and economic institutions in general protect gender equality in land distribution. The insecurity of women's land rights is most prominently displayed by the fact that divorced women are less protected from losing their land tenure. The village communities determine the fact of both land distribution and redistribution, and the decisions of the community were made following the traditions of a male-oriented rural society.
