Property Rights, Asset Accumulation and

Patrimonial Violence in EcuadorCarmen Diana DeereUniversity of Florida

2011 Robert G. Mead, Jr. Endowed Lecture Center for Latin American Studies, University of Connecticut, Storrs

November 9, 2011

Physical Sexual Verbal and/or psychological Economic

◦ Acts that restrict women’s ability to generate or control their own income and the income necessary to support their own families

Patrimonial ◦ Violations of women’s property rights

Forms of Violence against Women

◦ Denial of women’s rights to individual or community property

◦ Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela: Husband steals, damages or destroys his wife’s

property When he prohibits her from using, managing or

disposing of her own property If he commits any kind of fraud regarding the

couple’s community property If he appropriates for himself the profits from a

family business

Patrimonial Violence in Latin America

Women’s well being and that of her family related to women’s ownership of property

Ownership of assets an important determinant of a woman’s fall back position should the household dissolve

The stronger a woman’s fall back position, the greater her bargaining power in the household◦ Greater role in household decision-making◦ Inversely related to domestic violence◦ More likely to receive better attention from children in

widowhood

Propositions of Feminist Theory

1. Are women aware of their property rights and are these honored in practice?

2. In what kinds of situations is patrimonial violence most likely to occur?

3. Are women’s property rights sufficiently strong so that they are able to accumulate assets on par with men?

Main Questions:

Part of an international, comparative study on women’s accumulation of assets in Ecuador, Ghana and India

Funded by Dutch Foreign Ministry’s MDG3 Fund for Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment

Ecuador study carried out through a collaborative research agreement between University of Florida and FLACSO-Ecuador

The Ecuador Study

Methodology of the Ecuador Study

Qualitative field work

3 provinces: Azuay, Pichincha & Manabí

40 focus groups with 23 organizations

58 interviews with key informants (lawyers, judges, real estate agents, etc.)

Field Work Sites

Quantitative: 2010 Ecuador Household Assets Survey

2,892 Households, nationally representative stratified sample

Included Coast & Sierra, rural & urban areas

Marital Regime: partial community property

Women’s Property Rights in Ecuador

Assets acquired prior to marriage

Assets acquired during the marriage

Inheritances

Individual property

Joint property of the couple

Individual property

If marriage dissolves, split 50-50

Consensual unions have the same rights as formal marriages if meet certain conditions Monogamous, 2 years duration, can’t be

married to someone else

Inheritance Regime: all children, irrespective of sex, inherit equally from parents

Women’s Property Rights in Ecuador

1. In FGs, most women aware that assets accumulated during marriage constitute community property

2. Less certain about what happens in consensual unions

◦ Tendency to identify the owner of an asset as the person with whose income it was purchased

Patrimonial violence: “Everything is in his name, since he’s the one who

works”

Marriage and Consensual Unions

Graph 1: In marriage/union to whom does the property purchased with your own income belong?

Yourself Couple Don't know0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

120.0%

MenWomen

The “double signature”: to sell a major asset, both husband and wife must sign

Means that even if husband put house in his own name, if he wants to sell, needs signature of wife

Patrimonial violence: • Husband falsifies signature• Women signs without understanding what it is

about (faith that he will protect her interests)• Husband purchases an asset and puts it in the

name of a third party (usually in anticipation of divorce)

Protection for married women

In FG we found confusion about status of assets women had brought to marriage

◦ Tendency for them to consider their own assets as “family assets”

◦ At the same time, to recognize husband’s prior assets as his

Confusion over Individual Property in Marriage & Consensual Unions

Graph 2: Once you marry, to whom does the property you acquired while single belong?

Yourself Couple Don't know0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

MenWomen

Graph 3: If you inherit property during marriage, to whom does it belong?

Yourself Couple Don't know0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

MenWomen

Respondents answer to all three ‘legal literacy’ questions similar: the couple

Could reflect various factors:◦ People unsure, but felt “the couple” was the

socially appropriate answer◦ Notion of community property well entrenched

Even if disregards rights over individual property Nonetheless, found important differences

according to marital status among those whose responses conformed to Civil Code

Marriage & Consensual Unions

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

Single Married Civil Union Widow Divorced Separated Total

When you inherit property during marriage, the property belongs to you.

Men

Women

Graph 4: “Correct” answer according to marital status

Perhaps it is the experience of divorce/separation that makes people aware of their property rights◦ That is, it is a rupture in the marriage/union that

makes property rights relevant for most people Also related to social conventions

◦ Inappropriate to discuss ‘material things’ when in love

◦ Fear of breaking harmony of the union

Why are separated and divorced women more aware of legal norms?

1. The right to the family home (the major asset of most households = 62% gross

wealth)• CC: linked to who has custody of the children• Women assume this is their right (based on

social custom); don’t realize only a usufruct right (until children reach 18)

Patrimonial violence:• If husband insists, house is sold to divide up gains• Women do anything to get out of a bad relationship,

particularly in situations of domestic violence• Don’t demand property rights

Divorce

2. Loss of inheritanceCC: part of individual patrimony Patrimonial violence:

Women inherited land where couple built house; in divorce, land & house treated as community property without recognizing her inheritance

Related to: Lack of property titles Failure to make a “capitulation”, a legal declaration

that the land constitutes individual property

Divorce

• Capitulations, separation of property marital regime rarely utilized

• In survey, used by less than 2% of the sample

• Principally used by people marrying for second timeo Not considered socially appropriate o Thus only used when one has already had

experience with patrimonial violence (in previous relationship) or to protect the patrimony of one’s children

Mechanisms to protect individual property

Survey: 27.9% of sample in consensual union Most common on the Coast Not generally understood that these convey same

property rights as marriages

Problem of enforcing property rights of Consensual Unions:

Legal status is that of “Single”◦ If show ID to purchase a major asset, no one is going to

ask “are you in a consensual union?” Result: asset is registered in the name of

the person who purchased it

Consensual Unions & Separation

Difficult to prove that one was in a consensual union since these are rarely registered

◦ Survey data: less than 10% of consensual unions are registered

Patrimonial violence: Partner only has to demonstrate that he had other

relationships at the same time so that union doesn’t meet the legal requirements for her to claim property rights

Result: Few women in unions claim property rights• More likely to fight for child support

Consensual Unions & Separation

Most women understand that if widowed, they should receive half of the community property, with the other half going to the children◦ Considerable confusion over what this half

represents: an inheritance from their husband vs. their property right in the marriage/union

Few aware that they have no inheritance rights at all to the individual patrimony of their husband◦ CC: Spouse is in the second order of inheritance

Widowhood

Usually the main asset is the family home, and this becomes the joint property of the widow and her children

◦ If there are minor children, the widow has the right to remain in the home in usufruct

◦ Confusion over whether widow has the right to remain in the home until her death

Patrimonial Violence: The children pressure the widow to sell the family

home and divide the proceeds

Widowhood

Increased when the home is already in the name of the children

Children can mortgage or sell and leave the widow homeless

Common practice to divide up the inheritance among the children when parents are still alive (donations, fictitious sales)

• Upon death of spouse, few assets left to support widow• Widow must depend on good will of children

Vulnerability of the Widow

Wills rarely usedPractice of ‘advance inheritance’ quite

common among all social classes◦ Rural areas: when you marry, parents will “show

you your inheritance”

Generally both sons and daughters inherit from their parents

Inheritance by Children

Graph 5: Evidence of Relatively Equitable Inheritance practices

Yes

No, th

e m

en/b

roth

er in

herit

ed m

ore

No, th

e wom

en/si

ster

inhe

rited

mor

e0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

Did the brothers and sisters receive an inheritance of equal value?

MenWomen

For many, the main way that they accumulate individually-owned property

Inheritances often constitute their “fall back” position – what they can count on in the case of separation, divorce & widowhood

Importance of Inheritance for Women

Mode of acquisition by Individual vs. Joint Property

Men Women Couple Total0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

36

26

54

43

59

74

44

55

5.30123178500915 1.640675943015

66 2

Mode of acquisition of agricultural parcelsPurchase Inheritance

Other

Mode of acquisition by Individual vs. Joint Property

Men Women Couple Total 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

20 2227

23

64 6268 66

13 15

3

10

41 1 1

Mode of acquisition of the principle residence (%)

Purchase

Construction

Inheritance

Other

Our estimate: Women own 52.2 % of gross household wealth◦ Represent 53.5% of adult population◦ Suggests gender equality

The problem: wealth distributed very unequally◦ Gini wealth coefficient of 0.68

(perfect inequality = 1.0)

How Impacts Wealth Accumulation?

I II III IV V0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

35,000

222 1,3133,508

8,132

28,288

Adult Per Capita Wealth by Quintile and Sex

Male Female Total

1. Smaller household size (3.95)2. Highly feminized (1.32 adult women per 1

adult man)3. Men & women in consensual unions over-

represented4. Separated women over-represented5. Female household heads concentrated

among asset poor

Characteristics of the asset poor (Q I)

Quintile 1 Quintile 2 Quintile 3 Quintile 4 Quintile 50%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Non partnered MaleNon partnered Female

Distribution of Male and Female Heads across Total Household Wealth Quintiles

Patrimonial violence affects all social classes, but likely, most severe consequences for poor women

Separation, divorce, widowhood can be devastating, particularly if accompanied by patrimonial violence

Implications

1 (Poorest) 2 3 4 5 (Richest)0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100% Savings Consumer durables Business Livestock Other real estate Agricultural land Housing

Composition of Wealth by Quintile

1. Overall, women in Ecuador have fairly strong property rights and these generally are respected

Comparative context:

IMPLICATIONS:Marital & inheritance regimes make a difference!

Conclusions

Country Female Share of Physical Wealth (%)

Ecuador 52.5

Ghana 30.2

India 19.0

2. Gender equality in overall distribution of wealth in Ecuador largely explained by joint property rights in marriage and equal inheritance among all children Evidence suggests that these legal norms are

largely respected

Conclusions

3. Class differences outweigh gender differences in the distribution of wealth

◦ Bottom 40% the asset poor Little security to meet emergencies Few assets to climb out of poverty

◦ Worrisome that female household heads overrepresented among poorest 20%

4. Marital Status and Class◦ Consensual unions concentrated in Bottom 40%◦ Where property rights most difficult to enforce and patrimonial violence seems most common

Conclusions

5. Legal Literacy needs to be promoted so that both men and women are aware of their property rights • Most confusion is over individual property

To reduce conflict at moment of separation, divorce & widowhood, promote:• registration of consensual unions• use of capitulations• titling of real estate

Conclusions

6. Patrimonial Violence should be recognized as a form of violence against women and their human rights

Closely related to physical, psychological and sexual violence◦ Only these forms recognized in Ecuador’s 1995 Law

Against Family Violence Crucial for women’s empowerment and well-

being

Conclusions

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