Money9 Edit – Inheritance of property an equal right of a woman
Indian women need to exercise this right to the hilt and not let traditional beliefs come in their way
Battling patriarchy and age-old traditions, Indian women have always faced a difficult time in getting due recognition and emancipation at large.
But a landmark Supreme Court judgment last year paved the way for them to be recipients of equal coparcenary rights to their ancestral properties.
Earlier limited to only sons, this ensures women who don’t have regular income won’t be left at the mercy of others and can claim their share.
A report by Thomson Reuters Foundation last year noted that rising property prices in north India, especially Delhi-NCR, managed to nudge women to claim their inheritance.
It is time the society junks the old mindset and respects a daughter’s emotional connect with surroundings and environment she grew up in.
The notion that only sons are entitled to inhering properties has long been powered by a society which has failed in its objective to ensure women are bestowed with the same privileges as men.
Women have for long been pressurised to give up their rights for the ‘larger good’ of the family.
Why should that only be the responsibility of women?
Can’t men sacrifice their material rights or provide support to women during such discourses?
Rather than persisting with an archaic mindset, society needs to start questioning some of the traditional rituals which have for long restricted women from fully expressing themselves.
A nation like India can only prosper when its women are free from the various cultural inhibitions thrust on them.
Despite excelling in every sphere of life, women still have many battles to fight and inheritance of property can be a way to ensure they get their rightful share.
Indian women need to exercise this right to the hilt and not let traditional beliefs come in their way.