The Open Society Foundation released a new Briefing Paper entitled Securing Women's Land and Property Rights: A Critical Step To Address HIV, Violence and Food Security.  The Briefing Paper, developed in partnership with the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, addresses the fact that in many parts of the world, women’s rights to land and property are systematically denied. Laws give women fewer or less secure rights than men, and discriminatory attitudes and practices undermine them. This leaves many women almost entirely dependent on the men in their lives for basic economic survival and vulnerable to violence, poverty, and food  insecurity, particularly if widowed, divorced, single, or in marriages not formally recognized. The Briefing Paper identifies international human rights law and advocacy strategies that can be used to strengthen the enjoyment of human rights related to land and other productive resources, and specifically addresses how such law and advocacy can have positive impact on the HIV pandemic and on ending violence against women as well as enhancing food security.

The Briefing Paper also highlights that in order for women’s equality to be achieved, rights must be protected in both law and practice.  Making rights a reality for women requires working both to strengthen the legal standards that protect women’s rights and transforming biased cultural norms and practices that discriminate against women.

The Briefing Paper is available HERE.