Land is a powerful asset, but it also has a social function. Its economic and social aspects are central in advancing gender equality. Legal control of land as well as legal and social recognition of women’s uses of and rights to land, can also have catalytic effects of empowerment, increasing women’s influence and status in their homes and communities. This article-based PhD thesis focuses on Chinese rural women1 and their land rights and it consists of five academic articles and a summary. The social order in China is established through social networks, informal networks that strongly guides and steers the society. A glance at the social and economic position of Chinese women at the end of the twentieth century reveals a striking persistence of disadvantage; low gender equality, wide pay disparities and women remain segregated in low paying, low status jobs. Due to President Xi Jinping´s new discourse the Chinese society remains overly attached to its social traditions that maintains gender disparities. During past decades changes in the Chinese land tenure rights and practices have brought important incentives for rural developments including farmer income and living standards. However, according to this research rural women’s land rights are still not adequately implemented.