Gender difference regarding land property in Latin America is significant. There are few countries in which women make up even a fourth of the owners. Gender inequality in land property is related to male preference at the moment of inheritance, to male privilege in marriage, to male bias in community and state land distribution programs as well as gender bias in the land market, women having less probability than men of being successful buyers. But there are also important gender differences in the way land is acquired. Inheritance is the main way by which women become owners, while men have much more probability to acquire land through their communities and the state as well as in the market. The article underlines the factors contributing to the tendency towards higher gender equality in land inheritance and recent state programs.
land rights; gender; land property; inequality; inheritance; Latin America
