Women’s Access to and Ownership of Land and Property in Batticaloa, Jaffna and the Vanni Conducted in CARE Lift Villages

The report looks at various issues pertaining to women’s ownership and control of land and property in specific areas in the North and East of Sri Lanka affected by the conflict. The report discusses practical difficulties women face in accessing and owning land, legal provisions that affect women’s access and ownership, the implications of ethnicity, caste, and religion on land and property rights as well as perceptions related women’s access to and ownership of land. Traditionally there has been a strong trend towards separate property ownership of women. However with the general patriarchal social relations, the civil war and the destablization that followed, the Sri Lankan situation has been altered dramatically, with various actors infringing on women’s property rights.