Women’s Property Rights and Gendered Policies: Implications for Women’s Long-Term Welfare in Rural Tanzania

Citation:

Peterman, Amber. 2011. “Women’s Property Rights and Gendered Policies: Implications for Women’s Long-Term Welfare in Rural Tanzania.” Journal of Development Studies 47 (1): 1–30. doi:10.1080/00220381003600366.

Author: Amber Peterman

Abstract:

This paper evaluates effects of community-level women's property and inheritance rights on women's economic outcomes using a 13 year longitudinal panel from rural Tanzania. In the preferred model specification, inverse probability weighting is applied to a woman-level fixed effects model to control for individual-level time invariant heterogeneity and attrition. Results indicate that changes in women's property and inheritance rights are significantly associated with women's employment outside the home, self-employment and earnings. Results are not limited to sub-groups of marginalised women. Findings indicate lack of gender equity in sub-Saharan Africa may inhibit economic development for women and society as a whole.

Topics: Development, Economies, Gender, Women, Livelihoods, Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2011