Joint land certification, gendered preferences, and land-related decisions : are wives getting more involved?

Abstract

We have investigated whether joint land certification in Southern Ethiopia has contributed to a strengthening of the perceived land rights of women and an increase in their intra-household involvement in land-related decisions. We use gender-disaggregated household panel data and generate indices for wives’ and husbands’ land rights attitudes and for wives’ involvement in land-related decisions. After controlling for endogeneity of land certification, using a control function approach, we find that receipt of land certificate has strengthened wives’ awareness of their land rights. We also find evidence of an intra-household bargaining effect and an intracommunity social process effect that both contribute to stronger involvement of wives in landrelated decisions within households.