July 21, 2012 — Xiaobei Wang, Gender and Land Tenure Specialist of Landesa, made a presentation on the impact of collective forestland reform on rural women in China based on a new study by Landesa and the Rights and Resources Initiative.
Gender has long been a blind spot in China’s collective forestland tenure reform in the last 30 years. The issues and targeted policy recommendations made in Wang’s presentation lead to discussion at the workshop and a consensus was reached that gender sensitive laws, policies and supporting systems to strengthen rural women’s forest land rights are needed in China to promote the well-being of rural households and ensure the effectiveness of forestland reform in China.
More efforts will be made by Landesa to build awareness among government officials and civil society members on women’s forestland rights issues and advocate policy change with targeted and practical solutions.