Joint Titling in Rural Peru: Impact on Women’s Participation in Household Decision Making

This section discusses Henrik Wiig’s 2013 article “Joint Titling in Rural Peru: Impact on Women’s Participation in Household Decision Making”.¹

This is a cross-section data analysis of similar communities with and without titled plots that exist side by side within the same district. The cross-section comparison between households in titled communities vs. untitled communities is not distorted by simultaneity bias due to an exogenous election process arising from the land reform of the 1960-70s. This research measures influence on decision-making in 1,280 rural households, interviewing men and women both together and separately. Research was conducted in 2010.

• Does joint titling of land empower women within the household (i.e. the degree to which women participate in household decision-making)?

The intervention was called the Special Land Titling and Cadaster Project (PETT), a rural land titling effort funded by The Inter-American Development Bank in 1996.

Peru has implemented joint property rights between spouses and cohabitants on 57% of 1.5 million formalized agricultural plots.

Women in households with plots titled jointly under the names of the husband and the wife participated in more household decisions. The effect is strongest for agricultural decision-making and land related investment decisions.

• What steps were taken to ensure women who did receive a joint title knew their rights?