By Grace Swindler
Colombia’s existing property ownership laws can be traced back to the Spanish conquest of South America.[1] After Colombia’s liberation from Spain in the early 18th century, the wealthy and elite obtained ownership to the property.[2] This resulted in extreme economic disparity that has continued until today. As of 2018, a majority of farmers do not have a proper legal title to their land.[3] In modern day Colombia, people living in rural areas are three times more likely to be experiencing poverty compared to those who live in urban areas.[4]
The colonial roots of Colombian property laws have reinforced gender inequality. Improving a woman’s property rights can lift her out of poverty by benefiting several areas of her life.[5] Providing a woman with the opportunity to own and inherit property can increase her income by 380 percent.[6] Her children are more likely to be healthier and to complete secondary school, both of which support intergenerational mobility.[7] “Women with secure land and property rights earn four times more income and save 35 percent more than women without access to land and property.”[8]
Additionally, there is a correlation between gender-based violence and property rights in Colombia. 40 percent of Colombian women have experienced gender-based violence.[9] Colombian women who have property rights are eight times less likely to be a victim of gender-based violence and more than 60 percent less likely to experience long-term abuse by their partner.[10]
To lift Colombian women out of poverty, Colombia should consider additional measures, such as equality for land tenure and elimination of informal marriage.[11] Women should hold legal title jointly with their husbands to economically empower women.
Providing Colombian women with more property rights will enhance gender equality and provide Colombian women with a greater ability to participate in the market. Eradicating poverty is more tenable with property rights.
[1] Jarrod Demir, Understanding the Causes of Colombia’s Conflict: Land Ownership, Colom. Reps., Apr. 3, 2018, https://colombiareports.com/understanding-the-causes-of-colombias-conflict-land-ownership/.
[2] Id.
[3] Demir, supra note 1 (“60% of Colombia’s farmers do not formally own their land.”).
[4] Human Rights Council, Situation of Human Rights in Colombia, A/HRC/43/3/Add.3, paragraph 61 (24 Feb. – 20 Mar. 2020).
[5] Rachel Vogelstein et al., Women and The Law, Council on Foreign Relations 3 (Oct. 2018) (“Equalizing property rights can increase women’s economic productivity, improving their income, their ability to take out loans, and the health and education of their families.”).
[6] Id. at 31.
[7]Id. (“Children would be 10% less likely to be sick, 33% less likely to be underweight, twice as likely to complete secondary school.”).
[8] USAID Colombia, Improving Women’s Land Rights in Colombia, TetraTech (June 2016).
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Informal marriage means that there are no legal documents to prove that there has been a marriage. Women thus lose any legal remedy because they have no proof or verification of marriage.