Are there gender differences in the impact of land security?

: Evidence from Urban Lesotho

Rie MuraokaMywish K. Maredia

Songqing Jin(Michigan State University)

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“2014 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON LAND AND POVERTY”The World Bank - Washington DC, March, 2014

Land Administration Reform Project (LARP) in Lesotho• The project covers the urban and peri-urban areas of the capital city

Maseru.

• Funded under the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)-Lesotho compact

• The main objectives of the project is to strengthen land rights of the legitimate occupiers by formalizing those rights.• To register 55,000 parcels and give their owners title deeds of their

property (referred as “Lease”) • To record the ownership in reformed land information system.

• MCA has also supported training and public awareness to promote understanding and acceptance of gender equality and to ensure equal access to economic resources and opportunities.

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Roles of Secure Land Rights1. Increase number of land parcels used as collateral for mortgage

(Feder 1988, Lopez 1997, Mushinski 1999, Carter & Olinto 2003)

2. Increase investment in the property, frequency of transfers, subletting, rentals, and other economic activities (Besley, 1995, Feder 1988, Jacoby et al. 2002, Do & Iyer 2007, Deininger & Jin 2006)

3. Reduce in land related conflicts (Deininger & Castagnini 2000)

4. Develop factor markets (Field 2002, Yang 1997, Murphy 2000)

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Women Empowerment and Land Rights

• Women who own lands have more decision making powers within households - positive effects on food expenditure and children’s education (Fafchamps and Quisumbing 2000, Schultz 1999, Allendolf 2007)

• Effect of land regulation program on land investment is greater for female headed households (Ali et al. forthcoming)

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Objectives• Aims to answer the following research questions based on the cross

sectional data collected in urban Lesotho in 2013.1. Is there relationship between secure land rights and land

investment? 2. If there is any relationship between secure land rights and land

investment, is there difference between men and women?3. Does the perception of increased land security in the form of getting

the Lease increase the likelihood of a household to participate in land markets and facilitate investment?

4. Are these perceived outcomes of increased land security different for men and women?

5. What are the determinants of correct legal knowledge about land rights?

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Data• A cross-sectional data based on a household survey conducted during March-

June 2013 and covered four northern municipal councils of greater Maseru, the capital city of Lesotho.

• 1810 households and 2242 land parcels.

• Data were collected by interviewing one of the household members about information on household characteristics, parcel characteristics including detailed information on land investment, potential outcome indicators of the area-wide land registration intervention, and the perception, knowledge and opinions of the respondent on land issues.

• A separate module targeted towards women was also administered separately with the women member of the family (when the main respondent was a male) to capture her perception, knowledge and opinions on land rights and perceived effects on economic behavior.

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Household characteristics

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  Total Male headed

Female headed Testing

Number of households 1,810 1,109 701

Age of the HH head (years) 51 49 53 ***

% of HH whose head knows how to read and write 93% 90% 97% ***

% of HH whose head has completed Form 1-5 school 39% 39% 38%  

Total number of members in HH 4.0 4.2 3.8 **

Total value of assets (maloti) 61,775 80,233 35,839 ***

Value of total food consumption per capita per day  (maloti) 14.3 14.5 14.1  

Total expenditures per capita (maloti) 2,035 2,010 2,072  

Respondent characteristics

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  Total Male-respondent

Female-respondent Testing (a)

Number of respondents 1692 611 1081 N/AAge (years) 45 43.8 45.6  HH head 57% 75% 48% ***HH head's spouse 25% 3% 36% ***HH head's child 13% 16% 12%  Single 23% 28% 20% ***Monogamous marriage 50% 56% 46% ***Widow 22% 10% 29% ***Know how to read and write 97% 96% 97%  Completed Form school 1-5 40% 40% 39%  Engaged in salaried employment 32% 38% 28% ***Engaged in self employment 19% 22% 17% *

Parcel characteristics

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  Total Leased plot

Non-Leased plot

Male-headed

Female-headed

Testing (a)

Number of parcels 2242 290 1952 1340 844    Women are mainly responsible for parcel 42% 33% 43% 8% 93% ** ***

Owned & currently used by HH 86% 79% 87% 85% 87% **  Owned by HH & rented-out to other 6% 10% 5% 5% 6% **  Owned by HH & currently not used nor occupied 9% 11% 8% 10% 7%    

Residential parcel 85% 78% 86% 84% 86% **  Commercial parcel 7% 11% 6% 7% 7% *  Parcel size (m²) 1,255 1,247 1,256 1,274 1,214    Total value the parcel could be sold for (Maloti)  38,808 34,510 39,733 38,519 38,763

   Monthly value the whole parcel could be rented out (Maloti) 5,977 8,482 5,457 5,379 6,676 ***  

Owner experienced any conflict in the acquisition of this parcel or anytime thereafter

3% 4% 3% 3% 4%   

Owner is concerned about being in conflict  5% 3% 3% 3% 6%   ***

Property characteristics

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  Total Leased plot

Non-Leased plot

Male-headed

Female-headed Testing

Private tap water 76% 85% 74% 75% 77% ***  

Electricity 77% 81% 77% 78% 76%    

Private flush toilet 20% 46% 15% 20% 20% ***  

Private indoor bath 89% 94% 88% 89% 89% ***  

Main source of heating used is electricity or gas 24% 55% 19% 24% 22%    

Main source of cooking used is electricity or gas 90% 95% 89% 90% 89%    

Respondents' opinion about the effect of the Lease on willingness to pay, sell, rent out, & investment

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 Total Male 

respondentFemale 

respondentTesting 

(a)

Number of respondents 1,780 604 1,176  Know what is the Lease 62% 65% 60%  

Prepared to pay more for land with the Lease 77% 78% 77%  

More willing to sell property with the Lease 73% 72% 73%  

More willing to rent out a land parcel with the Lease 59% 55% 60%  

Likely to construct and make improvements on that property with the Lease

91% 89% 92% *

Knowledge about land rights

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 Total Male 

respondentFemale 

respondentTesting 

(a)

Basotho have a right to hold land title in Lesotho, provided they meet legal requirements under Land Act 2010

94% 92% 95% *

Basotho have the right to transfer or acquire land rights from others 92% 90% 93%

Basotho women have the right to inherit land on an equal basis as their brothers 94% 91% 96% **

Basotho women have the right to maintain a piece of their ex-husband’s land in the case of divorce

89% 87% 90%

Basotho women have the right to inherit from the deceased spouse 98% 96% 99% ***

Basotho  women have the right to apply for the formal land title (the Lease) on her own 96% 93% 97% **

% of respondents who knows all rights mentioned above 77% 73% 80% **

Empirical Model

•  

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Empirical Model

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Relationship between the Lease and property characteristics (Linear probability models for all parcels)

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Perceived impact of the Lease on market participation & investment(Linear probability models for all respondents)

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Pay more Sell moreRent-out

moreLikely to

investFemale respondent dummy (α) -0.009 0.002 0.048 0.029

(0.027) (0.026) (0.032) (0.018)Constant (β) 0.964*** 0.909*** 0.550*** 0.858***

(0.079) (0.088) (0.108) (0.069)α+β 0.955*** 0.911*** 0.598*** 0.886***Observations 1,764 1,755 1,759 1,754R-squared 0.079 0.139 0.099 0.072

Respondent characteristics & sub-village cluster dummies are included.*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1

Robust standard errors in parentheses.

Perceived impact of the Lease on market participation & investment(FE for HH that have both male & female respondents)

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Pay more Sell moreRent-out

moreLikely to

invest

Female respondent dummy (α) 0.047 0.099 0.287*** 0.090*(0.065) (0.068) (0.084) (0.052)

Constant (β) 0.559*** 0.414*** 0.064 0.714***(0.145) (0.157) (0.179) (0.103)

α+β 0.605*** 0.513*** 0.351*** 0.803***

Observations 191 189 189 190R-squared 0.128 0.086 0.217 0.133Number of hhid 96 96 96 96

Respondent characteristics are included.*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1

Robust standard errors in parentheses.

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Determinants of knowledge of land rights(Linear probability models for all respondents)

Rights to hold the Lease

Rights to transer or

aquire land

Rights to inherit land equal basis as brothers

Rights to maintain a piece of ex-husband's

land

Rights to inherit land

from deceased

spouse

Rights to apply for the Lease

Female respondent dummy (α)

0.030* 0.021 0.051*** 0.032 0.028** 0.038***

(0.017) (0.018) (0.017) (0.022) (0.012) (0.014)Constant (β) 0.982*** 0.847*** 0.824*** 0.871*** 0.973*** 0.910***

(0.036) (0.066) (0.056) (0.062) (0.020) (0.048)α+β 1.012*** 0.868*** 0.875*** 0.902*** 1.001*** 0.948***Observations 1,756 1,760 1,760 1,760 1,760 1,758R-squared 0.086 0.050 0.037 0.033 0.036 0.040

Respondent characteristics & sub-village cluster dummies are included.*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1

Robust standard errors in parentheses.

Determinants of knowledge of land rights(FE for HH that have both male & female respondents)

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Rights to hold the Lease

Rights to transer or

aquire land

Rights to inherit land equal basis as brothers

Rights to maintain a

piece of ex-husband's

land

Rights to inherit land

from deceased spouse

Rights to apply for the Lease

Know all these

rights

Female respondent dummy (α)

0.045 0.019 -0.030 0.019 0.012 0.024 0.095

(0.045) (0.043) (0.034) (0.027) (0.010) (0.028) (0.069)Constant (β) 0.812*** 0.972*** 1.075*** 0.881*** 1.018*** 0.938***0.641***

(0.175) (0.121) (0.092) (0.068) (0.046) (0.070) (0.204)α+β 0.857*** 0.991*** 1.045*** 0.899*** 1.03*** 0.963***0.736***Observations 189 189 189 189 189 187 187R-squared 0.077 0.158 0.032 0.095 0.179 0.093 0.050Number of hhid 96 96 96 96 96 96 96

Respondent characteristics are included.*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1

Robust standard errors in parentheses.

Summary of Main Results

• The Lease and some property characteristics are positively correlated. There are no distinct differences among men and women in relationship between secure land rights and property characteristics.

• Perceived impacts of the Lease on market participation and investment are consistently significant for both male and female. Women have greater perceived impact of the Lease on land rental and investment.

• Regardless of gender, Basotho are well aware of their land rights.

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Conclusions• Data is not good enough to indicate direction of causal relationship

between secure land rights and investment. Impact evaluation of LARP after follow-up survey could provide evidence on it.

• There are no considerable differences in gender in relationship between secure land rights and property investment and perceived impact of the secure land rights on investment. This could come from same educational level between man and women in Lesotho.

• Though people are highly aware of land rights, the acquisition rate of the Lease is not high. This indicates existence of high transaction costs of obtaining the Lease. Thus, LARP is expected to mitigate these costs and assist to achieve high registration rate of the Lease in Lesotho.

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