ABSTRACT
Mainstream economics has paid rather inadequate attention to gender inequality, but even within gender economics, some issues are especially neglected or hidden, such as women’s rights in land and property and social norms and perceptions. Gender inequalities stem not only from differences in economic endowments between women and men but also from social norms and perceptions, meaning that the inequalities are also ideologically embedded. Economists have long emphasized the importance of property rights for incentives and efficiency, but relatively few have looked at the gender gap in command over property. In largely agrarian economies, arable land is the most valued form of property. It is wealth-creating, livelihood-sustaining, and status-enhancing. The process of agrarian change under which labor shifts from agriculture to non-agriculture has been slow and gender-biased. Welfare aside, in several contexts there can be efficiency gains from gender-equal land access for several reasons.
