Improving Women’s Access to Land and Financial Resources in Tajikistan

Since independence in 1991, the Government of Tajikistan has embarked on a land reform program, which includes extensive farm restructuring. Given the demography of rural households in Tajikistan where the phenomenon of female-headed households is...

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Main Authors: Shahriari, Helen, Danzer, Alexander M., Giovarelli, Renee, Undeland, Asyl
Format: Report
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/433701485148442974/Improving-women-s-access-to-land-and-financial-resources-in-Tajikistan
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25981
id okr-10986-25981
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-259812021-04-23T14:04:33Z Improving Women’s Access to Land and Financial Resources in Tajikistan Shahriari, Helen Danzer, Alexander M. Giovarelli, Renee Undeland, Asyl land rights gender access to finance labor market female labor force participation equality empowering women Since independence in 1991, the Government of Tajikistan has embarked on a land reform program, which includes extensive farm restructuring. Given the demography of rural households in Tajikistan where the phenomenon of female-headed households is quite significant, women ‘s access to land and credit assumes special importance. To date, however, no thorough gender analysis of access to land and finance in Tajikistan has been conducted. As a result, there is insufficient gender disaggregated data to inform policy. It is not clear how effective the reforms are in addressing factors inhibiting women ‘s access to land and their ability to benefit from any changes. In addition, due to the lack of data, no comprehensive microeconomic study on access to finance has been done. Many Tajik women are sole heads of households and caretakers of their families as a direct consequence of war and migration. Migration in particular has a great impact on gender relations, gender division of labor, and gender roles with the possible empowerment or disempowerment of women left behind. Households headed by women in Tajikistan are 28.6 percent more likely to be poorer than those headed by men. Improving and securing access to land and ensuring the gender sensitivity of land reforms, therefore, has potential for improving the conditions of these vulnerable households. The reports propose several areas of action. While fostering women ‘s access to agricultural production can be considered a policy for improving basic welfare, access to finance is an important ingredient for increased productivity and farm growth (i.e., professionalization and potentially commercialization). Financial access opens up opportunities to diversify income generation beyond farming activities. Complementary initiatives for women ‘s empowerment support their access to productive assets and entrepreneurial standing in society, and may simultaneously lift women ‘s self-constraints in demand for finance. 2017-01-31T21:42:55Z 2017-01-31T21:42:55Z 2009 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/433701485148442974/Improving-women-s-access-to-land-and-financial-resources-in-Tajikistan http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25981 English en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Economic & Sector Work :: Women in Development and Gender Study Economic & Sector Work Europe and Central Asia Tajikistan
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic land rights
gender
access to finance
labor market
female labor force participation
equality
empowering women
spellingShingle land rights
gender
access to finance
labor market
female labor force participation
equality
empowering women
Shahriari, Helen
Danzer, Alexander M.
Giovarelli, Renee
Undeland, Asyl
Improving Women’s Access to Land and Financial Resources in Tajikistan
geographic_facet Europe and Central Asia
Tajikistan
description Since independence in 1991, the Government of Tajikistan has embarked on a land reform program, which includes extensive farm restructuring. Given the demography of rural households in Tajikistan where the phenomenon of female-headed households is quite significant, women ‘s access to land and credit assumes special importance. To date, however, no thorough gender analysis of access to land and finance in Tajikistan has been conducted. As a result, there is insufficient gender disaggregated data to inform policy. It is not clear how effective the reforms are in addressing factors inhibiting women ‘s access to land and their ability to benefit from any changes. In addition, due to the lack of data, no comprehensive microeconomic study on access to finance has been done. Many Tajik women are sole heads of households and caretakers of their families as a direct consequence of war and migration. Migration in particular has a great impact on gender relations, gender division of labor, and gender roles with the possible empowerment or disempowerment of women left behind. Households headed by women in Tajikistan are 28.6 percent more likely to be poorer than those headed by men. Improving and securing access to land and ensuring the gender sensitivity of land reforms, therefore, has potential for improving the conditions of these vulnerable households. The reports propose several areas of action. While fostering women ‘s access to agricultural production can be considered a policy for improving basic welfare, access to finance is an important ingredient for increased productivity and farm growth (i.e., professionalization and potentially commercialization). Financial access opens up opportunities to diversify income generation beyond farming activities. Complementary initiatives for women ‘s empowerment support their access to productive assets and entrepreneurial standing in society, and may simultaneously lift women ‘s self-constraints in demand for finance.
format Report
author Shahriari, Helen
Danzer, Alexander M.
Giovarelli, Renee
Undeland, Asyl
author_facet Shahriari, Helen
Danzer, Alexander M.
Giovarelli, Renee
Undeland, Asyl
author_sort Shahriari, Helen
title Improving Women’s Access to Land and Financial Resources in Tajikistan
title_short Improving Women’s Access to Land and Financial Resources in Tajikistan
title_full Improving Women’s Access to Land and Financial Resources in Tajikistan
title_fullStr Improving Women’s Access to Land and Financial Resources in Tajikistan
title_full_unstemmed Improving Women’s Access to Land and Financial Resources in Tajikistan
title_sort improving women’s access to land and financial resources in tajikistan
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/433701485148442974/Improving-women-s-access-to-land-and-financial-resources-in-Tajikistan
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25981
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