Ellen Lust | Social Institutions and Women’s Land Rights

The Moynihan Institute's Study of Global Politics series presents Ellen Lust from the University of Gothenburg and Cornell University. Lust will present a paper co-written with Lauren Honig (Boston College) and Adam S. Harris (University College London).

Paper Abstract: Two sets of social institutions—those that govern inheritance (e.g., matrilineal, patrilineal) and those that govern authority structures (e.g., patriarchal, matriarchal)—have been a core area of investigation for gender inequalities. In this paper, we argue that both sets of social institutions may dominate over different aspects of property rights, which are seen in classic economic and legal conceptualizations of property rights as a bundle of powers.

We use surveys and focus group discussions in Malawi, where we can exploit the fact that communities are divided between matrilineal and patrilineal institutions while most households within both types of communities are patriarchal, and we find lineage systems at the community level are associated with increased women’s rights over rentals, sales, and inheritance decisions, and patriarchal authority systems at the household level shape more everyday decisions related to land usage. The findings extend scholarship on historical institutional legacies, gender and property rights. 

Ellen Lust is the founder and director of the Governance and Local Development Institute (GLD) and a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. Previously, Ellen was at Yale University, where she rose to full professor, and at New York University, the Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva, and the University of Sydney as a visiting scholar.

Ellen has conducted research in more than a dozen countries in the Africa and the Middle East and authored numerous books and articles. Recent publications include, “Is Authority Fungible? Legitimacy, Domain Congruence, and the Limits of Power in Africa,” (2025) American Journal of Political Science, 69(1), 314-329, co-authored with Kate Baldwin and Kristen Kao; and Everyday Choices: Competing Authorities and Social Institutions in Politics and Development (Cambridge University Press, 2022).