Intergenerational Wealth Transfers in Western Ghana: A Study of Gender Differences in Land Inheritance and Schooling Investment

Agnes R. Quisumbing, International Food Policy Research Institute
Ellen M. Payongayong, International Food Policy Research Institute
Keijiro Otsuka, Foundation for Advanced Study in International Development

This study attempts to analyze changing patterns of land transfers and schooling investments by gender over three generations in customary land areas of Western Ghana. Although traditional matrilineal inheritance rules deny land ownership rights to women, they have increasingly acquired land through gifts and other means, thereby reducing the gender gap in land ownership. The gender gap in schooling has also declined significantly over time, even though it persists. We attribute such changes to the declining trend of "social" discrimination as well as weak parental discrimination.