Empowering women is a pre-requisite for creating a good nation, when women are empowered, society with stability is assured . Empowerment of women is essential as their thoughts and their value systems lead to the development of a good family , good society and ultimately a good nation .
Equality before law ,equal protection of law, equality of opportunity in social , economic and political spheres are the bedrock of justice and discrimination of any kind on any basis is antithesis to the concept of equality and justice . Women, constituting half of the Indian population, self sacrifice and the self denial are whose nobility and fortitude have been subjected to all equalities , indignities, inequality and discrimination . They always remained bereft of the advances in social development education, health , employment , economic participation ,science and technology etc . because of the traditional and stereotype roles of nursing children ,caring husband and in-laws and carrying out domestic chores such as cooking and cleaning etc accorded to them . The root cause of women ‘s subjection is their economic independence, there cannot be equality between sexes .Property rights are of special importance and significance because economic independence has usually an Important bearing on the well being of a class . In the realm of property ,the old Hindu law granted to women limited property rights and discriminated women on the ground of sex in the matter of intestate succession to the estate of the parents or husband. Thus, the position of women in India under the traditional Hindu law was much worse because of the restrictions on the rights of inheritance of women and the limited estates of Hindu women . Being cognizant to the unequal position of women in the intestate succession, after independence when old human values assumed new meaning and also due to the growing worldwide impact of human rights and fundamental freedoms the need for emancipation of women was realized and to set up a new social order to give women equal status and place of the honor and to abolish discrimination in succession based on gender became the demand of the time .
Property Rights of Indian Women
The property rights of the Hindu women are highly fragmented on the basis of several factors apart from those like religion and the geographical region which have been already mentioned . Property rights of Hindu women also vary depending on the status of the woman in the family and her marital status : whether the woman is a daughter , married or unmarried or deserted , wife widow or mother . It also depends on the kind of property one is looking at : whether the property is hereditary / ancestral or self –acquired , land or dwelling house or matrimonial property .
The Hindu Succession ( Amendment ) Act , 2005 ( 39 of 2005 ) comes into force from 9th September , 2005 . The Government of India has issued notification to this effect . The Hindu Succession ( Amendment ) Act is to remove gender discriminatory provisions in the Hindu Succession ( Amendment ) Act , 1956 and gives the following rights to daughters under Section 6 .
The daughter of a coparcener cell by birth become a coparcener in her own right the same manner as the son ;
The daughter has the same rights in the coparcenary property as she would have had if she had been a son ;
The daughter shall be subject to same liability in the said coparcenary property as that of a son ; and any reference to a Hindu Mitakashara coparcener shall be deemed to include a reference to a daughter of a coparcener ;
The daughter is allotted the same share as is allotted to a son ;
The share of the pre-deceased son or a pre-deceased daughter shall be allotted to the surviving child of such pre-deceased son or of such pre-deceased daughter ;
The share of a the pre-deceased child of a pre-deceased son or of a pre-deceased daughter shall be allotted to the child of such pre-deceased child of the pre-deceased son or a pre-deceased daughter .
These amendments can have far – reaching implications for women . For one , their status in the family will change dramatically irrespective of whether they are married or single . From a position of dependence o n the males – father and brothers – the woman will move to a position of equality .
This will also change the way parents view the question of marriage for daughters . If she is entitled to an equal share of all property , then she cannot be regarded as burden .
The theoretical reforms so far have not been adequate to give all Indian women a right to property on the same footing and terms as men . It varies with region and religion . Even where law has given a right , conventions and practices do not recognize them. Women themselves relinquish their rights .Women, as daughters , wives , daughters –in – law , mothers or sisters tend to lose out and often suffer deprivation . This further gets accentuated when they lose the security of the family , as single women , divorced / separated or widowed . Social awareness of the rights under law , attitudes to adhere to it and a mindset to change law and practice to ensure social justice is therefore urgent .
Therefore a social reform movement is necessary for such awareness and change of mindset . Since ‘marriage’ is the most traditional institution of initiating a family and preserving it , let registration of marriages be made compulsory . It is suggested that to achieve more power for women we must increase awareness of laws through education institutions , general awareness and legal awareness programmes ; sensitize judiciary , administrators and legislators about implementation of laws in letter and spirit; consider long pending recommendations for amendments for legal provisions on heritances and strengthen the administrative machinery for the purpose .
No comments:
Post a Comment