Why are women usually excluded from owning immovable property in rural areas?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Existence of patrilineal kinship system
Option (2) Existence of patrilineal kinship system — Correct. In a patrilineal kinship system property passes from father to son. In most regions of India women are usually excluded from ownership of land because of this prevailing patrilineal kinship system and mode of inheritance, and other cultural practices that privilege male rights; they get some access to land only as part of a household headed by a man.
Option (4) Absence of laws — Incorrect. The law is not missing: by law women are supposed to have an equal share of family property. In reality custom keeps them to limited rights.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.1 Agrarian Structure: Caste and Class in Rural India … In most regions of India, women are usually excluded from ownership of land, because of the prevailing patrilineal kinship system and mode of inheritance. By law women are supposed to have an equal share of family property. In reality, they only have limited rights and some access to land — only as part of a household headed by a man.…” “…The large scale circulation of labour has had several significant effects on rural society, in both the receiving and the supplying regions. For instance, in poor areas where male family members spend much of the year working outside of their villages, cultivation has become primarily a female task. Women are also emerging as the main source of agricultural labour, leading to the ‘feminisation of agricultural labour force.’ The insecurity of women is greater because they earn lower wages than men for similar work. Until recently, women were hardly visible in official statistics as earners and workers. While women toil on the land as landless labourers and as cultivators, the prevailing patrilineal kinship system, and other cultural practices that privilege male rights, largely exclude women from land ownership.” |