Are We Not Peasants Too? Land Rights and Women's Claims in India

Citation:

Agarwal, Bina. 2002. “Are We Not Peasants Too? Land Rights and Women’s Claims in India.” Seeds 21: 2-30.

Author: Bina Agarwal

Abstract:

Summary:

“In 1979, over two decades ago, a group of poor women from West Bengal made the following demand of their elected village council: “Please go and ask the government why, when it distributes land, we don’t get a title. Are we not peasants? If my husband throws me out, what is my security?” (personal communication, Vina Mazumdar, 1992). This demand underlined these women’s clear recognition that their families alone could not guarantee them economic security. What they also needed were fields of their own” (Agarwal 2002, 2).

Topics: Economies, Economic Inequality, Gender, Women, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2002

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