Do courts grant women their inheritance shares? An analysis of case law in India

Bina Agarwal and Shruthi Naik

World Development, 2024, vol. 182, issue C

Abstract: Recent decades have seen progressive reform of inheritance laws towards gender equality, both globally and in South Asia. Yet, a wide gender gap persists in actual ownership due to family resistance to endowing daughters with property. Given this, do women use courts to claim their rights across regions? Who are the opposing parties? What kind of property is most disputed? How long do cases take? To what extent do judgements favour women, and does the language of judgements reveal gender stereotypes? No prior study has addressed these questions.

Keywords: Women’s property; Coparcenary rights; Inheritance claims; Court judgments; Gender inequality; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:182:y:2024:i:c:s0305750x2400158x

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106688

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