Although women toil on the land as landless labourers and as cultivators, which factor largely excludes them from land ownership?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → The patrilineal kinship system and practices privileging male rights
Option (1) Land ceiling laws recording holdings in the household head's name — Incorrect. Land ceiling laws fix the most land a household may hold, so that surplus land goes to the landless. They limit the size of a holding and leave the question of men's or women's ownership untouched.
Option (2) Their absence from official statistics as earners and workers — Incorrect. Women were indeed hardly visible in official statistics until recently. That fact concerns how their work is counted, and has no bearing on who inherits land.
Option (3) Their low wages, which prevent them from buying land — Incorrect. Women do earn lower wages than men for similar work, which adds to their insecurity. Their exclusion from ownership comes from inheritance and custom that favour men.
Option (4) The patrilineal kinship system and practices privileging male rights — Correct. In a patrilineal kinship system, property and descent pass through the male line, and other cultural practices also favour male rights. So women work the land but are largely kept out of owning it.
NCERT (2026-27): “4.5 Circulation of Labour … |