How Did India Successfully Reform Women’s Rights? Part I: Answers from the Movement on Equal Inheritance Rights

Publication:
How Did India Successfully Reform Women’s Rights? Part I: Answers from the Movement on Equal Inheritance Rights

dc.contributor.author	Braunmiller, Julia Constanze
dc.contributor.author	Santagostino Recavarren, Isabel
dc.contributor.author	Mittal, Aparna
dc.contributor.author	Khatri, Tanvi
dc.date.accessioned	2025-04-17T16:11:59Z
dc.date.available	2025-04-17T16:11:59Z
dc.date.issued	2025-04-17
dc.description.abstract	This two-part policy brief series traces the development and reform of law in India related to three critical areas that affect women’s rights and economic opportunities: women’s property rights, domestic violence, and sexual harassment in the workplace. It explores the underlying factors and driving forces that led to reforms as well as the broad processes and extensive timelines required for change. It also highlights the remaining gaps in the rights for Indian women, including how the absence of robust implementation as well as inadequate administrative and infrastructural support for reform—coupled with deeply entrenched patriarchal mindsets—often makes real gender equality elusive for many. The achievements in India, which are the result of years of concerted efforts and thought leadership by multiple governmental and nongovernmental players, private actors, and women’s rights activists, could function as a “how to” guide for other countries that may want to carry out similar reforms in the future. This first brief in the series explores the reform of (Hindu) women’s inheritance rights. Starting in 1975, several states reformed the (federal) Hindu Succession Act of 1956, improving women’s rights to inheritance, until a federal reform occurred in 2005. However, additional reforms are needed in order to overcome gender discriminatory legal provisions.	en
dc.identifier	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099950506282325566
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1596/43085
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/43085
dc.language	English
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
dc.relation.ispartofseries	Global Indicators Briefs; No. 19
dc.rights	CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/igo
dc.subject	GENDER EQUALITY
dc.subject	WOMEN'S PROPERTY RIGHTS
dc.subject	DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
dc.subject	WOMEN'S INHERITANCE RIGHTS
dc.title	How Did India Successfully Reform Women’s Rights? Part I	en
dc.title.subtitle	Answers from the Movement on Equal Inheritance Rights	en
dc.type	Brief
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.date.disclosure	2025-04-17
okr.date.doiregistration	2025-04-20T02:17:52.073429Z
okr.doctype	Brief
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.docurl	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099950506282325566
okr.guid	099950506282325566
okr.identifier.docmid	IDU-c4c7e5b7-5c31-4959-a7de-0a50244345ba
okr.identifier.externaldocumentum	34104205
okr.identifier.internaldocumentum	34104205
okr.identifier.report	183491
okr.import.id	7141
okr.imported	true	en
okr.language.supported	en
okr.pdfurl	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099950506282325566/pdf/IDU0c4c7e5b705c31049590a7de00a50244345ba.pdf	en
okr.region.administrative	South Asia
okr.region.country	India
okr.topic	Gender::Gender and Law
okr.topic	Law and Development::Law and Gender
okr.topic	Social Development::Social Conflict and Violence
okr.topic	Law and Development::Real & Intellectual Property Law
okr.unit	Global Indicators Group - IFC (DECIG)