A Uniform Customary Code? Marital breakdown and women's economic entitlements in rural Bijnor

Abstract

Drawing on research in rural Bijnor district, western Uttar Pradesh, this article explores some of the implications of the Shah Bano controversy in the mid-1980s, and of the associated communalisation of politics, for local-level communal and gender politics. It makes three main points. First, the crucial parallels in the domestic lives of Hindu and Muslim women in rural Bijnor undermine Hindu Right assertions that Muslim women are uniquely oppressed, for instance, in relation to marital breakdown. Second, while political developments on the national stage have been highly significant in terms of local-level communal politics in Bijnor, the Muslim Women Act appears to have had no impact on the economic situations of rural Muslim women. Third and fol lowing from the first two points, bringing local-level gender politics into the frame alongside the communalisation of politics raises questions about strategic priorities in the struggle for gender equity in India.