in countries in africa in asia and oceania in latin america and the caribbean and in eastern europe women are reported not to have equal rights with men to acquiring and owning land undesa in most african and many asian countries although equal propertyownership rights are stipulated by law the prevailing customary practices which in a number of cases take precedence over statutory law prevent women from having control over the shared property of the married couple or even over the property that they brought into the marriage undesa oecd b eiu there is little that icts can do to address such legal barriers for example in viet nam the government has launched a number of initiatives to assist women entrepreneurs including opening special branches at sacombank the countrys largest privately owned commercial bank and starting a programme dedicated to women in rural areas at agribank the countrys largest stateowned commercial bank