Women need independent ownership rights: Women and Land in Northern Nigeria

In this paper the authors argue that ownership without independent rights is in the final analysis, no ownership at all and make the case for independent land rights for women. In the case of Muslim women who already enjoy (nominal) rights to own land, they argue for independent rights in order to enable them to be in a position to make decisions on the use, disposal and acquisition of this resource. For non-Muslims without ownership rights, they argue that demands for ownership have to go hand in hand with independent rights on matters of usage and disposal (i.e. control).