Women's Legal Rights
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| Unequal access to government forums restrains women and their potential contributions to economic and social development.
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Limitations on women's legal rights and participation in civil society are widespread. In no region in the developing world do women and men have equal access to education, financial services, and other economic assets.
Despite some recent progress, women around the world are still largely absent from national and local decision-making bodies.
Women have a right to participate in decisions that affect them, their families, and their communities. Yet unequal access to government forums continues to restrain them and their potential contributions to economic and social development.
In addition, legal and customary restrictions on women's land and property ownership continue to hamper women's ability to acquire productive assets and reduce their vulnerability when family crisis or some other calamity strikes.
Women’s secure access to land can lead to improved family welfare and women’s empowerment. Strengthening women’s property rights is a critical step toward empowering women and reducing poverty. Ensuring that women understand and can implement these rights is equally important. Learn more.
USAID helps countries address barriers to women's participation in formal employment, ensures women's access to financial services such as credit and savings, improves the nature and conditions of the work women do, provides adequate support when women leave the labor market, and works to enable women to gain secure access to land.
The WID Office is working to increase public awareness of women's legal rights and is building support for women’s legal rights through host country civil society organizations and legislative and judicial branches of government.
| [E]nsuring the rights of women and girls is not only a matter of justice. It is a matter of enhancing global peace, progress, and prosperity for generations to come. When women are afforded their basic rights, they flourish. And so do their children, families, communities, and nations.
– Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, March 8, 2009 |
Recent Activities
The Women's Legal Rights Initiative
Please see the Activity Archives for a list of completed Women's Legal Rights activities.
Key Publications
 Practical Guide and Methods to Advance Women's Legal Rights: Final Report of Women's Legal Rights Initiative; 1/2007 [PDF, 7.6MB]
Women's Legal Rights Year Three Report: Best Practices; 06/2006 [PDF, 749kb]
Full List of Publications
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