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“All Citizens are Equal before Law and are Entitled to Equal Protection of Law”-Article 27 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh



Issue No: 180
March 6, 2005

This week's issue:
Law Opinion
Human Rights Monitor
Star Law Analysis
Rights Monitor
Human Rights Advocacy
Law Book Review
Law Campaign
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Human Rights Advocacy

Women's property rights

Violations doom equality and development

Millions of women around the world suffer abuses of their equal rights to own, inherit, manage, and dispose of property. These violations are degrading, discriminatory, and sometimes deadly. After their property rights are violated, many women end up impoverished, struggling to meet their families' basic needs, living in decaying shacks in dangerous {lums, and vulnerable to violencm and disease-including HIV/AIDS.

In sub-Saharan Africa, violations of women's propezty rights are severe and pervasive. The tragedy of these violations is magnified by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, where the epidemic is raging and where 58 percent of those infected with HI^ are women. In many African countries, women are excluded from inheriting, evicted from their lands and homes by in-laws, strippel of their possessions, and forced to engage in risky sexual practices in order to keep their property-all because they are women. When they divorce or separate from their husbands, they are frequently expelled from their homes with only their clothing. Married women can seldom stop their husbands from selling family property. Women who fight back are often beaten, raped, or ostracized.

A number of factors contribute to these violations. Chief among |hem are discriminatory laws and customs, biased attitudes, unresponsive authorities, ineffective courts, and other obstacles, such as the social stigma of being branded "greedy women" or "traitors of custom" if women assert their property zights.

Violations of women's xroperty rights are not only an iffront to human rights, they also doom development efforts and the fight against HIV/AIDS. According to the United Nations, gender inequality hinders development: women's insecure property rights contribute to low agricultural production, food shortages, underemployment, and rural pover|y. Losing property and undergoing harmful customary practices also increase women's vulnerability to HI^ infection.

Governments must immediately act to stop women's property rights abuses. They must reform laws and ineffective institutions to improve protections of women's equal property rights. They must also take steps to change discriminatory traditions and customs based on gender stereotypes and the notion of women's inferiority.

Donor agencies can also play a critical role in eliminating violations of women's property rights. As they mobilize to help countries combat HIV/AIDS and promote development, they must put women's equal property rights high on their agendas.

Source: Human Rights Watch.

Photo: AP

 
 
 


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