Land Rights of Women:  The Contrast between Written and Customary Law in the State of Karnataka

Susmitha.B; Dr. R.Shivappa

Volume : V, Issue : XI, November - 2016

Land Rights of Women: The Contrast between Written and Customary Law in the State of Karnataka

Susmitha. B, Dr. R. Shivappa

Abstract :

Land in the form of agricultural land plays an important role in providing and securing livelihoods to the large section of population through out the world. However the ownership of land is largely in the hands of men for customary and statutory reasons. In the recent part the United Nations has stressed the importance of ing gender equality in all the spheres of life. Here comes the issue of land rights of women who work along with men in agricultural fields. In most of the cases women does work along with men some times as cultivator�s ( by virtue of being the wife of the owner) or as laborers. The data from global level to local level is showing that women are not enjoying equal rights on property on par with their male counterparts. The study focuses on the existing conditions in the state of Karnataka taking the 2011 census data as the base. The results are not encouraging as only 14% of the women are able to enjoy property rights. Here also they are provided with lesser quality of assets and in many cases in the absence of male member. For development to be sustainable and inclusive it is imperative that the state must make efforts to ing changes in the existing structure of the ownership of property.. The paper suggests the strategies to be adopted to make the land rights of women a reality