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DOWRY
& INHERITANCE
Srimati Basu (Ed.)
Rs 475 Hb 2005
81-88965-22-7
(UK & US rights sold. All others available.)
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The essays in this book examine the sociological,
legal, cultural and economic implications of dowry.
The connection between dowry or bridewealth norms
and the status of women, inheritance and its impact
on women’s empowerment are discussed from
the multiple perspectives adopted by different feminist
scholars. Feminist interventions have dealt with
slippery definitions, concepts in legal formulations
and theoretical questions regarding the volition
and agency of women in a patriarchal structure.
The essays examine the activist position vis-à-vis
dowry and inheritance: should dowry be boycotted
in toto, or only its excesses? Is dowry a form of
inheritance? Legal intervention is often seen as
the most concrete means to address issues of equity,
but the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1984 leaves room
for manoeuvre: dowry as a ‘condition of marriage’
is punishable, but voluntary gifts are excluded
from the ambit of the law. More recently, legislative
intervention has sought to grant equal inheritance
rights to women. Will these developments make for
greater gender equity?
This book brings together intellectually stimulating
analysis and radical activism, in a cogent and comprehensive
assessment of an issue and a practice that has preoccupied
Indian feminists for the past three decades. |
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SRIMATI
BASU
teaches anthropology
and Asian Studies at DePauw University, US.
She has been involved with community work
and research in the areas of feminist jurisprudence,
violence against women and development. She
is the author of She
Comes to Take Her Rights: Indian Women, Property
and Propriety. |
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