Even though land in Armenia was provided to citizens regardless of their sex, the actual distribution and registration of land was carried out by those identified as “heads of the households,” as per the report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations entitled “Gender, agriculture and rural development in Armenia.”  

According to the report, women’s limited access to land ownership is also explained by patrilocal marriages—more common in rural areas— in which brides go to live with their husbands’ families. “Within this traditional form of marriage, women usually do not claim their ownership rights over land either within their own families or within their new step-families, because of the fear that this might be seen as confrontational,” the documents reads.

Apart from this, there is a preference for giving land to male descendants, especially in the context of patrilocal marriages where sons usually remain in the household and are expected to manage the family holding.