It is widely recognised that the women in India, and in many other parts of the world, suffer from multiple deprivations that manifest themselves in health and nutrition deficit, un-equal distribution of work, in-equity in assets, and under-representation in social-economic and political institutions.
The reasons for these deprivations are mainly rooted in patriarchy, lack of women-friendly laws and policies, and sometimes poor implementation of the few progressive policies on ground.
The key to such deprivations is the ownership and control of land and other productive assets by women.
Ownership of land by women not only provides a secure future, improves the economic situation, but more importantly also enables women to be more confident, have dignity and respect, and play greater role in decision making within the family.
A number of research projects indicate that women with land rights are more likely to exercise control over household income. It also provides them access to credit, helps eradicate hunger and guarantees food and nutrition.
Despite innumerable individual and societal benefits of providing land rights to women, prevalent social practices do not let women own land. A number of progressive laws, such as the Hindu Succession Amendment Act have been introduced to help women inherit land, but the socio-cultural norms have prevented women from accessing their land rights.
But as these cases show, whenever women have been empowered with land of their own, their lives have dramatically improved.
With inputs from Pranati Das and Supriya Chattopadhyay.
Anisa Draboo is the Director, Communications and Advocacy of Landesa, a non-governmental organisation that works towards extending land rights to the poor.
