She Comes to Take Her Rights

She Comes to Take Her Rights

Product ID: 8422

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Author: Srimati Basu
Publisher: Kali/Zubaan
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 305
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8186706496

Description

This book explores the complexity of women's decisions with regard to family property in this context. Using the contemporary working of property law in India through the lives of middle-class and poor women, this is a study of how cultural practices, and notions of gender ideology, guide the working of law.

Using the contemporary working of property law in India through the lives and thoughts of middle-class and poor women, this is a study of the ways in which cultural practices, and particularly notions of gender ideology, guide the working of law. It urges a close reading of decisions by women that appear to be contrary to material interests and that reinforce patriarchal ideologies.

The Hindu Succession Act was passed in India in1956 theoretically giving Indian women the right to equal inheritance of their parents' self-acquired property, but in the years since, its provisions have scarcely been utilized. Using interview data drawn from middle-class and poor neighborhoods in Delhi, this book explores the complexity of women's decisions with regard to family property in this context.

This book shows that it is not ignorance of the law, naiveté about wealth or unthinking adherence to gender prescriptions that guides women's decisions, but rather an intricate negotiation of kinship and an optimization of socioeconomic and emotional needs.

Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

CHAPTER I
WOMEN AND PROPERTY

PART I
Women and Property

PART II
The Power of Law on Women and in the "New" Nations

PART III
Nominating Agents, Marking Resistance

PART IV
Camouflaging the Self : Methodological Choices and Other Fieldwork Angst

PART V
The Three Delhi Neighborhoods

PART VI
Looking Ahead

CHAPTER II
WOMEN AND PROPERTY INHERITANCE : SCANT AND SLIPPERY FOOTHOLDS

PART I
Property Values

PART II
The Significance

PART III
Women As Property Owners

PART IV
Property Distribution and Marital Status

PART V
Relative Wealth

PART VI
Non-Hindu Women and Property

PART VII
Blocking Women's Inheritance

PART VIII
"Hishabey to Amir Pai" ("Well, I Get It According to the Calculations"): Shipra's Family Property Conclusion: Stable Systems of Disentitlement

CHAPTER III
GIFT FOR ALLIANCE : MARRIAGE AND THE FLOW OF GOODS
PART I
Setting Up Matches : Gifts for "Alliances" Only

PART II
Wedding Ceremonies : The Framework for Gifts

PART III
"Jo dena hota hai" (What Has to Be Given") : The Nature and Parity of Wedding Gifts

PART IV
"Ladkiwale ko to dena hi parta hai" ("The Woman's Side Does Have to Give Things, of Course"): Issues of Dowry and Demand Paying for Weddings

PART V
Protima's Life : The Instability of Marriage

PART VI
Conclusion : Marriage and the Transfer of Wealth

CHAPTER IV
"Wo Ayee Hak Lene" ("There She Comes, to Take Her Rights"): The Dreadful Specter of the Property-Owning Woman

PART I
Multilayered Attitudes toward Natal Property and Women's Property

PART II
Equal Love : Conceptions of Equitable Distribution "Naihar Tut Hi Jaye" ("The Natal Home Is Broken for ME") : Fears of Natal Abandonments

PART III
Property over Time : Dowry and Long-Term Help in Relation to Property

PART IV
Surrogate Sons : Brotherless Women Inherit Property

PART V
Property as Payoff : Eldercare and Other Family Responsibilities

PART VI
Medha's Case : Complex Negotiations

PART VII
Conclusion : Multiple Position, Optimal Compromises

CHAPTER V
KNOWING THEMSELVES : WOMEN'S ATTITUDES TOWARD WEALTH AND WELL-BEING

PART I
Reconceptualizing Stridhan (Women's Wealth)

PART II
Crucial Problems, Imagined Solutions

PART III
The Shadow of the Legal Realm

PART IV
Conclusion : The Limits of Critical Analysis

CHAPTER VI
PROTECTING PROPERTY : GENDERED IDENTITY IN THE INDIAN HIGHER COURTS

PART I
Mise-en-scene : The Legislative Construction of Women's Property Rights

PART II
Patterns of Authority

PART III
Different Spaces for Daughters, Sons, and Wives

PART IV
Defining Religion, Faith, and Custom

PART V
Defining Religion, Faith and Custom

PART VI
Conclusion : " Spoilt Darlings" and "Patient Packhorses"?

CHAPTER VII
CONCLUSION : PROPERTY AND PROPRIETY

Appendix A
Appendix B
Notes
Bibliography
Index