Who sows? Who reaps? Women and land rights in India

Abstract

Noting the significance of direct access to land, and not just access mediated via male members, for the economic and social well‐being of women and their families, this article traces women's past and existing rights to land in law and in customary practice, across communities and regions; examines changes in these rights among communities traditionally practising matrilineal inheritance; and seeks to identify the factors impinging on women's ability to claim, control and self‐manage land today, and variations therein cross‐community and cross‐regionally. Barring matriliny‐related practices in the north‐east and south‐west, tribal customs, and specific circumstances elsewhere, women have had virtually no customary rights in land, and those that existed have been substantially eroded over time, with State policies playing a catalytic role. Modern legislation, while a step forward, has yet to establish full gender equality in law or to permeate practice. Customary practices governing marriage, residence and female seclusion; intimidation and violence by male kin; biases in the functioning of official agencies, etc., variously obstruct women in claiming their legal share or functioning as independent farmers, although the nature and incidence of these factors differs cross‐regionally.