This paper examines the importance of property rights in women’s empowerment in rural India. Arguments justifying the need for granting property rights to women are presented and the distinction is made between legal (formal) and customary (informal) rights. The ineffectiveness of legal right...

The Solomon Islands is one of the five least developed Pacific island nations according to the classification of the United Nations. This article reviews the situation of the Solomon Islands in relation to its development generally but paying particular attention to: • Public and private...

Reports on results of a survey, completed in 2000, of wives in three villages in the Phulbani district, Orissa, India. These villages are dominated by the Kondh scheduled tribe but some also contain members of the scheduled caste, called Dombs in Orissa. The article reports on the total...

Provides a brief account of the development of the Joint Forest Management Scheme in India, especially in West Bengal, the state where joint forest management has been most widely adopted and which provided the genesis of the scheme that was adopted as part of India’s Forest Policy 1988. The...

Survey data on which this paper is based were collected in a rural district in Kenya between December 2000 and January 2001. The main objective was to identify the factors that determine female participation in household decision-making. Our results suggest that bargaining models and resource...

This paper uses data collected from migrant's wives in the Nyeri district of Kenya. The main objective is to determine whether migration and remittances contribute to the development of agriculture. Our results suggest that most migrants are pushed out of rural areas, belong to the group of...

This article explores the socio-economic situation of female heads and poor heads of household in rural Botswana by means of a case study of the village of Nshakazhogwe, a village considered to be typical for rural east Botswana. It examines the extent to which the occurrence of poverty of...

Empirical studies on the impact of women’s paid jobs on their empowerment and welfare in the Bangladesh context are rare. The few studies on the issue to date have all been confined to the garment workers only although studies indicate that women’s workforce participation in Bangladesh has...

Poverty and social deprivation in Botswana are rising in rural areas while they are declining in urban towns and villages. Revenue from diamond mining is thought to have made a significant contribution to reducing poverty levels in cities and urban villages. However, the benefits from diamond...

Recent trends in the growth of cities particularly in developing countries (and especially in India and China) are identified. Beneficial and negative sharing mechanisms influencing the growth of cities are examined. Economic benefits of agglomeration arise not so much from the type of economic...