India must push for women’s rights in land ownership

Relevance: To understand the pattern of women’s ownership of land.

Synopsis: Despite enabling laws, women’s land ownership are still lagging. This needs concerted social efforts and more vocal claims by women.

What is the challenge?

• Despite 15 years of the passing of the Hindu Succession Amendment Act (HSAA 2005), the access of women to the property is still poor.
• Literature shows women’s land ownership would improve their well-being, improve children’s health and education, reduce domestic violence etc.

What does the law say?

• HSA 1956 had given substantial rights, but there were two major inequalities:
  1. Inheritance of agricultural land devolved according to land reform laws was gender unequal.
  2. Daughters were excluded from coparcenary rights (joint heirship) in the family property.
     • While Kerala abolished joint property, states like AP, TN amended HSA to recognize unmarried daughters as coparceners.
• But the discriminatory clause for agricultural land still remained.

What is the status on the ground?

• The first challenge was with respect to the data of gendered ownership, as it was not easily accessible, neither by NSSO survey nor by agricultural surveys.
• There were also issues of people citing incorrect data.

Results from ICRISAT’s longitudinal data (2009-2014)

• Women were found to own land in only 16% of the sampled 1,114 rural landowning households.
• Women constituted only 14% of all landowners and owned only 11% of the land, with an average area of 1.24 ha relative to 1.66 ha for men.
• Most of the landowning women had acquired land through their marital families, typically as widows and not as daughters through parents.
• Very few women were co-owners in joint family property, and over half the owners of both genders were aged 50 or more.
• The state-wise variance was also observed, as female landowners constituted 32% of all landowners in Telangana but only 6% in Odisha.

Factors leading to lower ownership of land by female

• Fathers fear losing control over land if given to married daughters.
• Daughters fear damaging family relations if they claim their shares.
• Policymakers fear land fragmentation.

Way forward

• India urgently needs more gender-disaggregated data on land ownership, and innovative policies to increase women’s actual ownership.
• Women should raise their claims more vocally.

Terms to Know

• Hindu Succession Act