Women's land rights and effects on their social status in Nagaland, India | |
| Author | Kikhi, Chozhule |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.GD-07-22 |
| Subject(s) | Women's rights--India--Nagaland Women--India--Nagaland--Social conditions |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Gender and Development Studies, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. GD-07-22 |
| Abstract | Women in Nagaland lack land rights, except in some stray cases which is mediated by gender relations and customary practices. There are no specific land laws or policy enacted by the state government. The state government has very less land under its control. The customary laws are the de facto rights that exist on the ground and grant women usufruct right to any type of land but not control rights. They are a powerful tool for resolving land disputes, implemented by the male custodians and the state is working in close coordination with the customary laws. From time to time, the state government issued gender equality and justice notifications to facilitate equal land rights between men and women. This may have yielded marginal positive result in the urban sector where women are educated with increasing negotiating and bargaining power, but not in rural areas, where a particular ethnic group live in a territorially defined area, following the age old practices, culture and traditions. The purpose of this study is to examine the existing rights of women to land and its impact on the social status of women mediated by gender relations, customary practices and the state's policies. The field work was conducted by interview with key informant of state policy makers in charge of land laws and policy followed by interview with key informants and village leaders. This was followed by FGD and household survey conducted in the sampling households. Besides, an in-depth interview with different men and women were held. Information collected was validated with key informant from Kohima village. It was found that with or without customary land rights, women can access to any types of land for subsistence agriculture and women exercising land rights do not make much difference on livelihood and income as investment on land involves high production cost with less productivity. Yet, land rights remain so powerful for assured food security. The household survey result showed that land rights have improved women's self confidence that enabled them to take active participation in decision making with increased bargaining power. Thus, women have a low social status not because they have weak land rights but because they are unable to earn income through land based activities as income is an indicator where the society assigns a person a status position. On the other hand, by being able to exercised land rights, women are more self confident and take active participation in decision making with greater bargaining power and women's social status during marital crisis is not affected at all. Hence, women's land right is so important coupled with good education. This can lead to economic empowerment and achieve a long term higher social status for women in the society |
| Year | 2007 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. GD-07-22 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Gender and Development Studies (GD) |
| Chairperson(s) | Resurreccion, Bernadette P.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Schmidt-Vogt, Dietrich;Doneys, Philippe; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | International Development Research Center (IDRC) – AIT Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2007 |