Womenƍs Right to Land and Housing

Dr. Vibhuti Patel,

Director, PGSR
Professor & Head, Post Graduate Department of Economics,
SNDT Womenƍs University, Churchgate, Mumbai-400020.
E-mail- vibhuti@mtnl.net.in , vibhuti.np@gmail.com

Phone-91-022-26770227®, 22052970 (O)

Mobile-9321040048

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Macro Reality
Women constitute of ½ of worldƍs
population,
do 2/3 of worldƍs work.
In return,
Women get 1/10th
of worldƍs income and
Own 1/100th of
worldƍs wealth.
The United Nations

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Womenƍs contribution to the
economy
* Women have historically managed the
unpaid care economy and fulfilled the
responsibilities of cooking, cleaning, family
care, collection of fuel, fodder, water,
kitchen gardening, poultry and animal
husbandry and provided nutritional
security.
* As womenƍs contribution to the economy
and society at large remains unrecognised,
largely underpaid and mostly unpaid, the
need for women to be able to secure land
and property has become even more
critical. ?
 Housewife by Amrita Pritam
Housewife
The housewife (2)
If the womanƍs husband is asked
What does his wife do
The answer is
ƏMy wife does not work.Ɛ
Then
Who bears this world in her womb?
Who gives birth to the farmers, the workers?
Who cooks, washes, cleans and fills water?
Looks after the child and the sick?
Whose labour gives men leisure for liquor, tobacco and card session?
Whose labour gives men their strength to go to work?
Who labours without being noticed?
Mutely working, without being paid,
Without being appreciated ever------

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 Institutional Constraints
* discriminatory inheritance patterns,
* agriculture and development issues,
male- centred land reforms
* use of forest-based resources,
* gender-based violence,
* the appropriation and privatization
of communal and indigenous lands,
* as well as gendered control over
economic resources and the right to
work. D
Why the stress on Womenƍs
Rights to Land and Housing ?
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* The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
1948 (Articles 17 and 25);
* The housing rights of Refugees, 1951
* The Housing Rights of Indigenous People
(Not yet adopted)
* International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, 1966 (Article 17);
* International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, 1966 (Article 11);
* UN Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women,
1979 (CEDAW Articles 13-16).

Constitutional Provisions in India
* Article 14-Əequality before the lawƐ and Əequal
protection of laws within the territory of IndiaƐ.
* Article 15 (1), 15(2) and 15 (3) prohibition of
discrimination on the basis of sex & affirmative
action policies for women and children.
* A.P. state government was the first to declare land
and property rights for women during mid-nineties.
* Amendments in the Hindu Code Bill after the public
interest litigation filed demanding coparsonary
rights for Hindu daughters in the ancestral property.

 
Womenƍs Movement for Land Rights

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Womenƍs Right to Housing (WRH)
* WRH is linked with womenƍs rights in
property, land and inheritance. As
primary user of housing, womenƍs
stakes and requirements are the
highest in housing.
* For women, beyond shelter,
housing is a place of employment,
a place for social interaction, a
place for child-care and a refuge
from social instability & sexual
violence.
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* In the peaceful areas, 1/10th of the
households are headed by divorced,
deserted, single women. In the conflict
prone areas 1/3rd of the households
are FFH.
* FHH are also the poorest of the poor.
Even if they have money, they face
hurdles while looking out for a rented
place or a house on an ownership
basis.
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* Housing Rights have been major
concern of the womenƍs Movement in
India for over two decades. When
womenƍs groups started providing
support to women in distress, its was
relatively easier to find jobs and
school-admission for children. The most
difficult task was to get an
accommodation for women victims of
violence, desertion, rejection, fraud and
cheating by relatives$
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* In the last 20 years, many women have filed
petitions in the High Courts and the Supreme
Court of India, demanding wifeƍs right to
live in the matrimonial home and daughterƍs
right to stay in the ancestral home.
* Lata Mittal challenged Mitakshara laws
applicable to the Hindus that granted co-
parsonary rights to only sons who is treated
as Karta of familyƍs property.

* Protection of Domestic Violence Act, 2005

has ensured right to stay in matrimonial and
parental
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home to women. |

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* Womenƍs identity is entwined with a
house but housingƍs identity as a
capital investment and the largest
outlay in the household budget lies
with male head of the household.
* Whether women are or arenƍt property
owners, their place or sphere is
considered to be within the house- cult
of domesticity.
* Low status of women is perpetuated
by the devaluation of domestic work.
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Gender Bias and Housing Problems
* The gendered construct of social &
economic relations within and outside
the household and deeply entrenched
patriarchy discriminate against women
in virtually every aspect of housing, be
it policy development, entitlement in
government projects, control over
household resources, rights of
inheritance and ownership and even
the construction of housing.
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 Emerging Issues
* Need to focus on housing in terms of
ƌpersonal meaningsƍ as well as
affordability, womenƍs role and the
housing industry.
* Privileged position of property owners
who tend to be men in the housing
delivery system & general
subordination of women.
* Womenƍs lack of representation in political
bodies & societal restrictions reinforcing their
status as second class citizens.
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 Gender Aware Approach
* Gender Neutral Approach in housing
needs to be replaced by Gender
Aware Approach that takes womenƍs
specific needs, concerns and rights
with respect to housing into
consideration.
* Womenƍs lack of security of
tenure is the overarching concern of
all those who believe that womenƍs
rights are human rights.
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Stake Groups in Housing industry
* Land surveyors, builders, developers,
designers, financiers, mortgage
bankers, lawyers, credit unions,
government officers, material
suppliers, real estate brokers,
appraisers, contractors, interior
decorators, gardeners, landscape
architects, consumers .
* In the language of economics, the SS
side comprises of production,
construction, management,
maintenance,
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rehabilitation . |
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* In the schools of Architecture or engineering,
in their planning and design education, there
is public-Private split.
* The syllabus should emphasize that as a
physical structure, the house is a site for
housework, home-making, child rearing and
wage-labour for majority of women all over
the world.
* A house layout influences and affects gender
roles among household members and
therefore mirrors change in societyƍs concept
of the family.
* Hence the need for gender sensitive designing
based on the ethos of shared housework by
men and women in the household.
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 International Human Rights Law on
Security of Tenure
* A person is said to have a secure tenure
if he/she is protected from being
removed arbitrarily and
involuntarily from their homes and
lands.
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The UN on Forced Eviction
* wWomen...and other vulnerable individuals
and groups suffer disproportionately from the
practice of forced eviction. Women in all
groups are especially vulnerable given the
extent of statutory and other forms of
discrimination which often apply in relation
to property rights (including home
ownership) or rights of access to property or
accommodation, and their particular
vulnerability to acts of violence and sexual
abuse when they are rendered homeless.w
(UN Committee on Economic, Social, and
Cultural Rights, Sixteenth Session, 1997)
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Circumstances and conditions that threaten WST
* Gender biased laws preventing women from
owning, inheriting, purchasing, leasing, renting,
bequeathing housing, land and property.
* Judicial Interpretation of the Law- No explicit
forbidding of WRH in gender neutral laws, still they
create obstacles for WRH.
* Land and Housing Systems as they grant titles
to private property to ƏHeads of HouseholdsƐ who
are often deemed to be men.
* Customary laws, Traditions, Attitudes
* Domestic Violence

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Financial and Material Barriers
* Gender-biased policies in financing for
housing, availability of services, material and
infrastructure, affordability, habitability,
accessibility, location and cultural adequacy
to handle political economy of housing.
* Difficulties in securing loans for purchase of
good quality housing
* problems of rental housing.
* Age of Women and Housing- Plight of
women senior citizens.

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 Indian NGOs and WRH
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ownership & Control 
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Progressive states have empowered women by
granting housing rights. e.g.
Building societies in Sweden & England,
Unions in Germany, Self help Groups &
Cooperative Enterprises in Canada, Central &
Latin America, Africa and Asia.
 


 
  

  

  



       


 
    

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 Witch-hunting of Women
* ƏBhootaliƐ (Maharashtra),Dayeen (Bihar)-
Widowed/divorcee Dalit/ tribal women.
* In 2001, In the Koombha Mela in Allahabad,
60000 women were deserted by their family
members.
* Sarpanch, Talati &Tahasildars taking
advantage of illiterate women.
* In Algeria and West African countries FHHs
were burnt. International Committee of
Women Living Under Muslim Laws.
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 Action Agenda
* Womenƍs land and housing needs must
be understood from the point of view of
womenƍs rights to dignified life.
* Women should not face any
discrimination in exercising their right
to land and housing due to their caste,
race, age, religion and ethnicity.
* State and civil society initiatives must
facilitate the process of womenƍs
empowerment through exercising
WHRs. The local self government bodies
should reserve 10% of all houses/
flats/ industrial units/ shops in the
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'Rural and tribal women must get their land
and housing rights.
'Schools of Architecture, Engineering Colleges
and Institutions for Interior Designing should
organize capacity building workshops and
training programmes for women.
'Gender sensitization of the decision-makers in
the housing industry (both public and private
sector) and the elected representatives of the
mainstream political bodies should be given
top priority.
'For formulation of gender-sensitive policies,
experts on the subject should be inducted in
the apex bodies of urban, rural and tribal
housing projects.
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