Rights when Land is Owned Jointly

Expanding women’s asset ownership is key not only for improving gender equality, but also for promoting economic development and wellbeing. But survey respondents often report owning assets jointly with others, including their spouses, children, and extended family. But it is not always clear what is meant by joint ownership and what rights or control the respondent has regarding the asset. Measuring the extent of women’s property rights also requires understanding the role played by joint ownership. This module allows us to elicit subjective assessments regarding the rights of each member of a hypothetical married couple who own property jointly, with variations on the type of ownership (joint vs. sole), mode of acquisition, and selling rights. To fully understand individuals’ understanding of joint ownership, it is useful to have this tool alongside modules that solicit information on individual’s ownership of the asset.

Link to: tool content and guidelines, CTO file, and statistical annex

Duration: This tool takes on average 2.25 minutes to be implemented

Permitted use of the tool: all users are free to use the tool with citation: “MAGNET (2023). Rights when Land is Owned Jointly. https://magnet.ifpri.info/rights-when-land-is-owned-jointly/”

Tool sample
Scenario 1: Peter and Grace are married. Peter is the husband, and Grace is the wife. They own a plot of agricultural land together, that they purchased after they were married. 

• Statement A: Neither can sell the land without the other’s agreement.
• Statement B: Peter can sell the land on his own, regardless of what Grace wants. Grace cannot sell the land.
• Statement C: Grace can sell the land on her own, regardless of what Peter wants. Peter cannot sell the land.
• Statement D: Either can sell the land without the other’s agreement.

Q1. Which situation is most common in your community?
Q2. Which couple is most like you? (FOR MARRIED RESPONDENTS)

Response Options

• Statement A
• Statement B
• Statement C
• Statement D

Measurement properties

• Geographies Tested: Kenya, Malawi
• Populations included: Women, Men
• Age range: Adults

For details on these testing metrics, visit our scoring methodology page.