In Nepal, women seek ownership rights to the lands they tend

Nepal's National Agricultural Census found that only 20.8% of women farmers hold secure land ownership rights compared with 42.9% of men, despite women making up nearly 70% of the country's farming population. Binita Bishwokaarma, who grew up working her family's fields in Sindhupalchok, said her mother and other women handled the entire agricultural cycle while the property remained registered solely in her father's name.

Legal reforms in 2002 and 2017 eliminated formal gender discrimination in property inheritance, but social norms have kept control of land and major financial decisions largely with men, according to Tanuja Pariyar of the Feminist Dalit Organization. Research cited by the World Resources Institute and others links secure land rights for women to higher agricultural productivity, lower food insecurity, and better conservation outcomes, benefits that remain largely theoretical where ownership stays unchanged on paper.

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