Women, Marriage and Asset Inheritance in Uganda

What is Chronic Poverty? The distinguishing feature of chronic poverty is extended duration in absolute poverty. Therefore, chronically poor people always, or usually, live below a poverty line, which is normally defined in terms of a money indicator (e.g. consumption, income, etc.), but could also be defined in terms of wider or subjective aspects of deprivation. This is different from the transitorily poor, who move in and out of poverty, or only occasionally fall below the poverty line. Abstract Using a unique dataset from Uganda, which collected individual-level asset ownership data and women's life histories regarding assets, this paper examines the relationships between inheritance, marriage and asset ownership. Land is the most important asset in rural Uganda. The majority of couples (both married and those in consensual unions) report owning land jointly. Men who report owning a parcel of land are much more likely than women to say they inherited the land. Inheritance is not an important means of acquisition of other assets, including livestock, business assets, financial assets and consumer durables. These items are acquired through purchase, for both men and women. Acknowledgements This paper is one of a series on asset inheritance and the intergenerational transmission of poverty commissioned and published by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre. It was first presented at a Roundtable on Inheritance and the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty hosted jointly by the CRSP). All views, interpretations, recommendations and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of the supporting or collaborating institutions. We would like to thank Kate Bird and Elizabeth Cooper and an anonymous reviewer for their comments on an earlier draft. Any errors remain the authors' own. This document is an output from the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) which is funded by UKaid from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID. The CPRC gratefully acknowledges DFID's support.