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Women’s Property Rights And Need For Uniform Civil Code By: Devshree Rajendra Somvanshi
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WOMEN’S PROPERTY RIGHTS AND NEED FOR
UNIFORM CIVIL CODE
Authored By: Devshree Rajendra
Somvanshi,
Alliance School of Law,
Alliance University, Bengaluru.
ABSTRACT:
This study focuses on the need of a standardised civil code
for protecting women's property rights. It will make sure fundamental rights
are protected. Indian people are divided by their beliefs. There are Hindus,
Muslims, and people who believe in many other religions. All ideologies have
their own laws that deal with things that only their followers care about. In
this age of modernization, where things are always changing and people are
moving around, it is crucially important to have a law that applies to all
religions and deals with their unique problems. There is a serious need for a
law that applies to all religions and deals with their different problems. If
gender equality is to be protected and articles 14, 15, and 25 of the
constitution are to be preserved, there must be a standardized civil code
governing personal law, especially as it pertains to women's property. The idea
of a universal civil code will be introduced initially in this article. Based
on the ideals contained in Article 44 of the Constitution, this study tracks
the evolution of legislation meant to preserve women's financial security. This
study analyses the historical and contemporary contexts that need a global
legal norm. The essay also examines the Indian Constitution's application of
the universal law of an eye. The central argument of this paper is that
ensuring men and women have equal property rights is crucial to economic
development, particularly in urban areas, for reasons that go beyond basic
human decency. This paper also
makes recommendations for improving the country's application of universal laws
in the country. Included in this paper's discussion of women's inheritance and
succession rights; will also investigate marriage and divorce as they are
viewed from a variety of religious perspectives. The discriminatory nature of
the personal laws, especially with regards to women's rights. This paper will
examine gender biases in depth, considering various religions and their
respective personal law.
Keywords: Uniform civil code, Property rights, Gender
equality, Women, Personal laws.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION:
Women may be the future, but women
still possess a small percentage of other real estate and just 2 to 4 percent
of the world's land.[1]
Protecting women's property
rights is crucial to ensuring long-term economic development and is also a
question of human rights and gender equality. Numerous studies have shown that
as women's salaries rise, family consumption and the economy as a whole
benefit. In contrast, males tend to spend a larger percentage of their income
on luxury goods.[2] There is
growing evidence that the denial of property rights to women is at the root of
many other issues in global development, including poverty, disease, and
illiteracy.[3] There is
a correlation between rural and urban poverty, especially for women. If land
was legally owned or managed by rural women individually or collectively, and
if their rights to use and inherit the property were protected, household
earnings would increase. An increasing number of women-headed or women-only
households can be found in urban slums, where substandard housing and
homelessness are the norm. This is mostly due to the persistent exclusion of
women from rural land rights. However, the legislation's guarantees for women's
equal treatment and property rights have not been properly applied. [4]
The right to own property is recognised as fundamental in numerous
international treaties and declarations, including the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, the
Beijing Platform for Action for the Fourth World Conference on Women adopted in
1995, and the Millennium Development Goals established in 2000. The population
of India can be roughly divided into those who adhere to the ideologies of
Hinduism, Islam, and a great number of other religious traditions. Every
ideology has its own law that governs how its adherents should conduct
themselves circumstances. There have been discussions concerning national unity,
modernity, secularism, and, most recently, gender equality ever since the topic
of whether a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for all of India should replace current
religious personal law system was raised. India continues to use a religion
personal law system, much as other post-colonial states. Pluralistic personal
law systems are problematic from a feminist perspective because, first, they
apply various standards to persons of different faiths and, second, they have
distinct standards for men and women. The development of a secular Uniform
Civil Code has been proposed as a potential solution to this issue. According
to Article 44 of the Constitution, which defines the "Directive Principles
of State Policy," it is essential that all of India be subject to the same
set of laws. The Uniform Civil Code is utilised for this purpose. It would be
fair and wouldn't give any religion an unfair advantage to combine several
personal religious norms into a single legislation. In addition to the Indian
Christian Marriage Act and the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, there are also
Shariat laws, Shia laws, and Hindu laws in effect in the country of India.
These laws vary for Muslims, Christians, and Parsis. There has not been
sufficient enforcement of the laws that protect women in matters of divorce and
property ownership. In light of this, the Uniform Civil Code places a premium
on secular advancement and the spiritual significance of uniformity. Marriage,
divorce, child support, inheritance, succession, and other legal concerns are
governed by civil law or specialized legislation in every faith tradition.
Marriage, inheritance, and succession are all handled differently among the
many religious groups in India; Hindus, Muslims, and Christians all have their
own sets of laws, while Jains and Sikhs were once subject to Hindu law. Article
44 of the Indian Constitution mandates the establishment of a standard civil
code; however, this has not yet been passed by the legislature. The universal
civil code regulates or administers all matters including religious
restrictions, much as the Indian penal code, which originated in 1860 and
governs all criminal matters in India. The only Indian state with a legally
enforceable universal civil code is Goa.
So long as personal laws are upheld and
religious identities are protected, an optional UCC would still achieve the aim
of Article 44 of the Constitution. The potential for this Code to coincide with
broader reforms to laws pertaining to human beings is another reason why this
proposal has promise. However, the issue will not improve until these
adjustments are made. Indira Jaising, the founder and secretary of Lawyer's
Collective, argues that if gender equality is to have any meaning, we must
choose between gender-just secular legislation and personal laws that support
the values of equality. The State should not enforce laws that are unequally
applied.
The battle for gender justice in
private law has become more difficult as a result of this paradigm change.
Women's rights activists today understand that a secular Code that prioritises
equality over religious freedom is the best solution to the problem. To Jenkin,
understanding women's right to religious freedom necessitates looking at how
their gender and faith interact.
LITERATURE REVIEW:
1.
Srimati Basu, She Comes to Take Her
Rights: Indian Women Property and Propriety, https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/She_Comes_to_Take_Her_Rights/zz4jDkOoxy4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
This is a study of how cultural practices, especially ideas
about gender ideology, affect the way the law works. This is accomplished
through following the perspectives of middle-class and low-income Indian women
as they interact with modern Indian property law. It says that decisions made
by women that seem to go against their material interests and that support
patriarchal ideas should be looked at closely. In India, property law is based
on cultural practices and ideas about men and women, which leads to decisions
that support patriarchal ideas. To ensure that daughters of Hindu households
would inherit their parents' accumulated wealth in a way that did not
discriminate against male heirs, Indian lawmakers passed the Hindu Succession
Act in 1956. However, few individuals really abide by it. This book explores
the difficulties women face when deciding how to divide up family assets. This
demonstrates that individuals do not act out of a sense of passivity, legal
ignorance, or naive obedience to societal expectations of gender. In four
chapters, the author looks at inheritance, marriage exchanges, myths about
wealth, and legal texts. In Chapter 6, we look at how legal decisions are influenced
by myths about women's rights to property. Basu looks at the dowry as a way to
help pay for the bride's clothes and jewellery and the in-laws' needs, and he
comes to the conclusion that patriarchal ideas about inheritance are still
strong in India. Basu's plan and ideas about the economic security of widows in
Delhi City, India, are based on their social class, where they live, and
whether or not they own property. As well as economic control over production
and resources, property rights are based on kin-based ideas of justice,
security, and rights.
2. M.S Ratnaparkar, Uniform Civil Code: An Ignored Constitutional
Imperative, https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Uniform_Civil_Code/6NCQQn0ixZUC?hl=en&gbpv=1
In accordance with Article 44 of the
Indian Constitution, this book delves into the contentious topic of creating a
"Uniform Civil Code" that would apply to all Indian citizens
regardless of caste, creed, or religion. The author did a good job of looking
at the topic from all of its different angles. Just like in India, Muslims live
with people of other religions, ethnicities, or races and are governed by the
same Civil Laws. They do not have any animosity or bad feelings toward their
fellow countrymen. Several court decisions and relevant "Ayyats" from
the Quran have been highlighted in relation to the alterations adopted in
various Islamic nations across the globe where personal laws have been modified
to match the local situation. The author has warned the informed public that,
regrettably, the subject has given rise to a great deal of unavoidable and
acrimonious controversy that has nothing to do with logic and everything to do
with false religious beliefs. All of the book's ideas are thought-provoking,
and they give intellectuals a reason to explain to people, especially Muslims,
the good things about the Uniform Civil Code and put an end to their unfounded
fears.
SCOPE AND OBJECTIVE:
·
To
examine and understand uniform civil code.
·
To
understand the personal laws and its origin in India.
·
To
grasp the importance of a standardised common law system.
·
To
examine why a universal civil law protecting women's property rights is so
essential.
·
The
goal of this initiative is to raise policymakers' and funders' awareness about
the significant contribution women might make to economic growth if they were
given better access to property rights.
·
To elaborate advantages of uniform civil code.
RESEARCH PROBLEM:
Gender equality in property rights
refers to women's legal and societal rights to participate in property use and
ownership. Gender justice is not addressed under the constitutional
requirement, nor is it clear if such a Code would replace or just augment
personal laws. Despite their divergent views on legal pluralism, this study
claims that both organizations have come to embrace the concept. The women's
movement has distanced itself from article 44 of the constitution and publicly
claims that the UCC is not conceivable, while the Supreme Court continues to
mention the constitution when it requests the Code but does nothing to further
the idea. Unlike its militancy in instances concerning other Directive
Principles, it has been slow to rule personal legislation invalid. Therefore,
calling for the UCC is empty rhetoric. There is no unified system of property
rights for Indian women. The Indian woman's property rights are determined by
her religion and religious school, marital status, place of origin, tribal or
non-tribal status, and other factors. Manu, the author of the ancient classic
Manusmriti, is reported as saying, "Her father protects her in infancy,
her husband protects her in youth, and her sons protect her in old age." A
woman is never ready for independence. Historically and legally, Hindu women
face multiple barriers when attempting to own property. However, women did not
always have to forego their right to inherit property, whether it was immovable
or not. The failure to enforce inheritance rights with the necessary
earnestness has only contributed to a dramatic rise in poverty, especially
among women. This is one of the main
causes of general unrest amongst the poor people, more women have become subjugated
in more and varied ways against any such movements. Everyone agrees that women
have low status around the world in part because they do not have land. India's
traditional view of women is the main reason why women cannot inherit their
fair share of land. In this context, another grey area is the inheritance
rights of tribal women, who, according to traditional customary laws, do not
have the right to inherit. The personal law does not give women the right to
own property, which is one of the main ways they could be free.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
·
Whether
is it feasible that the constitution no longer serves its original purpose of
providing a uniform set of laws?
·
Whether there is need for uniform civil
code regarding the women’s property rights?
HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY
After going through several paper, we
have assumed the following hypothesis. There is no uniform civil law for the
property rights for the women in the Indian society.
METHODOLOGY:
Since this study will mostly include
collecting data from multiple sources, it will adhere to the doctrinal
approach. Primarily secondary sources are used. All available books, journals,
and papers were read. Published books and papers are the gold standard for
research. The following strategies will be used to achieve the study's goals and
gather the required data.
·
Study of the existing books.
·
Books, journals, and articles may serve as both secondary
sources.
·
Internet surfing.
CHAPTER
2: WHETHER IS IT FEASIBLE THAT THE CONSTITUTION NO LONGER SERVES ITS ORIGINAL
PURPOSE OF PROVIDING A UNIFORM SET OF LAWS?
The Indian
Constitution contains a reference to the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). It promotes
the development of a single body of law. UCC is a single law that all Indian
citizens must follow. This law has to do with inheritance, getting divorced,
getting married, having children, and having an abortion. Its main goal is to
get rid of laws that affect people's lives.
The
Constitution's initial goal of establishing a unified body of laws has been
lost in the mix. The Uniform Civil Code of India, an initiative to harmonise
India's personal laws, has largely superseded the varying doctrines of the
country's major faiths. A "uniform civil code" is the name given to a
set of laws that everyone is supposed to obey. Today, several religious groups such
as the Hindus and Muslims each have their own set of personal rules. Personal
law governs such topics as property, marriage, divorce, inheritance, and
succession. The pursuit of gender equity and the establishment of a standard
civil code in India are inextricably linked from a socio-legal perspective. It
is crucial to improve women's standing in society, eliminate prejudice based on
gender, improve their health and safety, and increase their sense of agency.
Though India does have a unified criminal code, there is no such thing as a
common civil code. There is no distinction between the sexes in the Criminal
Code with respect to Indians. Personal laws are not standardized between civil
law systems. The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, the Hindu Succession Act of 1956,
the Hindu Minorities and Guardianship Act of 1956, and the Hindu Adoption and
Maintenance Act of 1956 are only some of the statutes that regulate personal
matters for Hindus. The Shariat Act of 1937, the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage
Act of 1939, and the Muslim Women's Act of 1986 are all regulations that
regulate Muslims' personal lives and are based on the Holy Quran.
The laws
governing Parsis are also distinct. As a result, there is no consistency in
personal laws or in women's property rights. Adopting a kid under your own name
is against Hindu law for women. And if her kid is past the age of five, she has
no legal say over what happens to him or her. In a Hindu Joint Family before
2005, girls could not share ownership of real estate. Despite the Hindu
Succession (Amendment) Act of 2005, discriminatory laws continue to be in
place. If a Hindu woman goes away intestate, her husband's heirs would receive
whatever assets she inherited from him. However, there is no equivalent
provision for intestate males. Husbands of the Muslim faith are allowed to
engage in polygamy, while women are restricted to one partner. Divorce is far
more difficult for a Muslim woman than a guy. Additionally, under Islamic
inheritance law, a woman's portion is still less than a man. According to the
Indian Succession Act of 1925, if a child dies without a will, the mother has
no claim to the deceased kid's assets. The father is the one who inherits the
land, or the siblings if the father has passed away. Christian Personal Law was
likewise a point of contention for quite some time. According to Section 10 of
the Indian Succession Act, a husband must demonstrate adultery before he may
seek for divorce, whereas a woman must demonstrate adultery and another ground
for divorce, such as cruelty or desertion. The Indian Divorce (Amendment) Bill
of 2001 changed this. Prejudice against female and male descendants was legal
under Parsi law until 1991. The "fossilised in the name of religious
inviolability" nature of most personal laws means that they are seldom
changed to reflect contemporary norms. In India, personal rules from the Hindu,
Muslim, Christian, and Parsi faiths are all codified. There is no single set of
personal laws that all Indian citizens must follow. Furthermore, Article 44
clearly stated that efforts should be made to ensure that individuals had
access to a unified civil code across India's entire territory. When it comes
to elevating women's rights in India, adopting a unified civil code is one
alternative being considered. The uniform civil code strengthens the nation's
unity and benefits women as well. No group that believes in the Constitution of
India should find it hard to accept these ideas about fair inheritance. Such
rules should apply to all kinds of rights that can be passed down, including
easement rights. We hope that a plan to reduce poverty would start in a
different but more sure way.
So, we need the Uniform Civil Code right away to get rid of gender
bias. Even though the country got its independence, people are still not free.
A nation like India does not need any further legal framework beyond the
Uniform Civil Code.
Since the Supreme
Court has "read" Directive Principles "into" Fundamental
Rights in prior judgments, it is not viable to challenge the validity of the
personal legislation based on an alleged infringement of article 44. Despite
the fact that those situations were exceptional in that they included social or
economic rights rather than a legislation like article 44, it is still feasible
that the Supreme Court may use its jurisprudence to raise the relevance of
article 44. The court may, if it deems it necessary, make analogies between the
Directive Concept and the right to equality guaranteed by Articles 14 and 15,
or the secularism concept stated in the preamble, to emphasise the importance
of the Directive Concept.
CHAPTER
3: WHETHER THERE IS NEED FOR UNIFORM CIVIL CODE REGARDING THE WOMEN’S PROPERTY
RIGHTS?
No gender
discrimination can be tolerated; hence a universal civil law is urgently
required. The "State should try to construct for its residents a Uniform
Civil Code (UCC) across the territory of India," as stated in Part 4,
Article 44 of the Constitution of India, 1950. A Uniform Civil Code would
standardise the law across the country by replacing the myriad of local and
religious statutes currently in effect. The concept has been met with mixed
responses from various sectors of society. Each Indian citizen has unrestricted
religious liberty under Articles 25–28 of the Constitution. It also says that the State must use directive
principles and common law when making national policies. The British colonial
authority emphasised the necessity for Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and Sikh personal
laws to be the same straight immediately in 1835, which is when the UCC was
first formed. They did not punish Muslims, Christians, or Parsis, though.
The male members of the family and society at large must
accept laws that end systemic discrimination against women, especially in
regard to the right to property. However, women should be warned that they
should only seek to enforce their rights to obtain property from ancestral for
marital families when doing so will significantly contribute to the financial
stability of the family. Such a shift in perspective and inter se accommodation
may assist much to attaining true gender equality and can help maintain the
peace and stability within the family, the fundamental unit of society. Justice
Any discussion of women's empowerment, in B.V. Nagarathna's opinion, must
address the problem of women's right to property and economic power in the
broadest sense of the term, which includes the right to subsistence. Equal
wealth distribution, bargaining power, and decision making are all more likely
to occur in households when women have access to. A huge proportion of Indian
women do not have distinct property as such, therefore when we think of
economic empowerment, it is mostly in the sense of inheriting the property.
Consequently, policies and laws that seek to expand women's rights to own
property and pass down inheritance have gained a great deal of support in addition
to those that seek to increase women's access to economic possibilities.
"that personal distinct laws are based on different religious group and
sects and such a plurality is a facet of Indian multiculturalism," she
said, describing how personal law governs women's property rights in India. The
Indian constitutional culture must be considered while analysing and applying
Indian legislation in this area. Although it is common to refer to article 44
in Directive principles of state policy when discussing the Indian
constitution, this fact alone does not allow for a departure from the rules
established in Chapter 3 of the text, particularly Articles 14 and 15, which
deal with the issue of gender equality.
In reality, the constitution's Article 15(3) allows for additional
protections to be given to women so that they are shielded from discrimination
in all its forms. This constitutional guarantee and the positive action it
entails must be kept in mind when making, enforcing, or interpreting any
legislation that affects women's rights, including laws based on the personal
law system. Efforts to create a universal civil code must prioritize the rights
of women without discriminating against males. That would finally make India a
place where men and women had equal rights. A consistent civil code protecting
the property rights of women is necessary since such discrimination is both
unconstitutional and unethical, specifically violating articles 15 and 25 of
the constitution. In a modern secular democratic republic, all citizens should
be subject to the same civil and personal laws, regardless of their colour,
gender, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics. Women are treated
unfairly under the personal laws of almost all major religions, according to
the majority of the population. Succession and inheritance are often areas
where males have greater privileges than women. A universal civil law would put
all citizens on an equal footing. Today's India is a young and vibrant society,
with 55% of its population being under 25 years old. Their societal outlooks
and ambitions are shaped by the global and universal principles of equality,
humanism, and modernity. If we are serious about harnessing all of their
abilities to create a nation, we must take seriously their proposal that they
not identify with any religion. The criminal and civil laws (save for personal
laws) of India apply uniformly to all citizens. When the Uniform Civil Code is
fully implemented, every citizen will be held to the same standard in terms of
the rules that govern their personal affairs. Discrimination, concessions, or
special benefits given to certain persons on the basis of their religious laws
shall not be able to be politicized. All religious personal laws reflect
traditional, patriarchal norms of the upper class. Angry women are demanding
UCC as a solution to the problem of personal law changes being opposed by
patriarchal orthodoxy for fear of violating people's purity.
The vast religious, sectarian,
caste, regional, and state-level cultural differences in India make it
difficult to establish uniform guidelines for intimate relationships like
marriage. Many organisations, especially minority ones, see the Uniform Civil
Code as a restriction on the right to practise one's faith. They fear that a
universal code would put the laws in place that are largely defined by and
influenced by the religious sects who have the most members, while ignoring
their own traditions. When the state interferes in private matters.
Constitutionally, everyone has the freedom to practice their faith of choice.
If laws are codified and enforced, religious liberty will be curtailed. To be
complete, this code must draw liberally from various personal laws, making
slight modifications to each, issuing judicial rulings that guarantee gender
equality, and adopting broad interpretations of marriage, maintenance,
adoption, and succession to account for the mutual benefits that each community
enjoys. This task will take a lot of time and require a lot of people. Such a government
should always treat both the majority and minority groups with care and
fairness. If not, it could lead to violence between people, which would be even
worse. At the same time as the beef scandal, the saffronization of school and
college curriculum, and the love jihad debate, the Muslim community in India is
strongly opposed to this matter. Given the absence of any word from the highest
levels of government on any of these matters, it will take time to restore
faith. Such the government should be sensitive. If it is not, these efforts to
bring people together will backfire, making minorities, especially Muslims,
feel more unsafe and more likely to be drawn to fundamentalist and extremist
ideas.
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION:
Even though women have property
rights and that laws ensure that women are treated equally, laws have failed to be implemented. There are
situations in which a woman's right to life or her ability to live with dignity
within her own family is threatened even if her husband, children, or brothers
are still there. There is often no one they can turn to for help. Therefore,
the government should quickly establish two laws: one mandating that any assets
obtained during the marriage be held jointly by the woman and husband, and
another mandating that the property so acquired be split equally in the case of
marital strife. Some government regulations have already taken steps in this
direction. The Delhi Development Authority and the Ghaziabad Development
Authority, for example, have begun allocating flats in joint names, indicating
joint ownership to husband and wife. The other piece of legislation
should be one in which every Indian citizen is presumed to have died with a
will directing that his or her estate be divided equally among his or her
primary heirs. Daughter(s), son(s), wife, and mother will be the primary heirs.
In the event of contrary intentions, a written will would be required,
providing valid and acceptable reasons for deviating from the prescribed
inheritance principle. Such provisions should be acceptable to all communities,
including Muslims, because they do not violate applicable laws. Hindus have two separate forms of
legislation that are applied differently throughout the nation, which is their
biggest issue when it comes to succession. Equal rights for men and women are
now more difficult to achieve at the end. Last but not least, a UCC can only
develop via an evolutionary process that respects the diversity of India's own
legal traditions. There is a risk that achieving the desired religious and
racial parity via the formulation and implementation of the UCC will not
happen. In order to effectively modify the present personal law reforms,
significant community awareness initiatives are essential. For this
change to occur, current institutions must be modernized, democratized, and
strengthened. Women of all religions must make genuine efforts to empower
themselves.
India now is
defined by its plural democratic system. Thus, for Indian democracy to thrive,
it is essential that people work toward building bridges across India's many
cultural and religious traditions rather than imposing a single, unified set of
values on the whole country. Indian state governments were driven to create
impartial succession regulations as a result of the ongoing study of Hindu
women's succession rights. Because of the Hindu Succession (Andhra Pradesh)
Amendment Act of 1985, a lot has altered. According to this law, a female has
the same legal protections as a male sibling. This law says that the Mitakshara
system goes against the basic right to equal treatment. Women are now allowed
to join the coparceners in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and
Kerala due to new legislation. Unfortunately, though, this legislation does not
extend to all countries. The southern states of India were the only ones to
adopt gender-neutral property laws like Marumakkattayam55 and Aliyasantana56;
the rest of India was unwilling to abandon its patriarchal heritage. This law
said that everyone had the right to. There are several laws that prohibit
discrimination against men and women, but none of them are powerful enough to
affect significant societal change. Access to financial services and home
ownership for individuals are priorities of the Sustainable Development Goal 5.
Possessing financial independence may improve women's safety, empower them in
the family, and pave the way to greater economic security. And the Goa Civil
Code is one of the best examples of how family laws and the rights of men and
women can be made the same. Goa is one place that shows how India could be more
uniform. This code gives a lot of money and recognition to different customs
and traditions in Goa that are important to different religious groups
(Shetreet and Chodosh 2015). They devised concrete strategies to maintain
social stability. In order to eliminate discrimination based on gender, a
universal civil code is required immediately. The people are not free even if
the nation has independence. Any nation the size of India could get by with
only one set of laws: the Uniform Civil Code. In India, the Hindu, Muslim,
Christian, and Parsi faiths have all written down their rules for living. There
isn’t one set of personal laws that all Indian citizens must follow. Also, it
is clear that Article 44 required that efforts be made to make sure that
everyone in India had access to a single civil code. The greatest method to
improve women's rights in India is to adopt a standard civil code throughout
the country. Women benefit much from a standardised civil code, which is good
for the country as a whole. If gender parity is to be attained by 2030,
immediate action is needed to address the myriad forms of systematic
discrimination that continue to hinder women's rights at home and in the workplace.
To further equality, justice, and the empowerment of women, unfair laws, such
as personal laws, should be eliminated from the UCC. The Sustainable
Development Goal 5 is to guarantee that all women get equal treatment and have
the power to speak out for themselves. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development places a strong emphasis on putting an end to discrimination and
making sure that everyone has equal rights, regardless of gender. The
importance of SDG Goal 5 for women, gender equality, women's empowerment, and
women's rights are becoming more apparent through UCC. If a woman's rights are
limited by personal law, the UCC may be utilized to help her break free. Women
are treated as family members rather than as autonomous people. One sure way to improve women's status is to
grant them ownership of all types of property, including usufructuary rights.
All Muslims, with the exception of those located in Jammu and Kashmir and those
falling under the other categories already listed, are subject to the regulations
of Application 1937. Under Muslim law, the Muslim Shariat Act, the daughter
gets half of what the son gets, and the widow gets the same amount as the
daughter. As a wife, daughter, or mother, a woman's share of an inheritance is
not the same as that of the corresponding male heir. In reality, daughters and
widows don't often get their fair share of an inheritance. Because of local
customs and traditions, Muslim women from the lower classes rarely inherit
anything. This is not the case for Muslim women from the upper classes,
however. They can stand up for what is right. Despite laws to the contrary,
women do not have a bad deal in terms of customary inheritance in the Parsi
community, which is very small but highly cultivated, hardworking, and affluent.
A Parsi daughter receives half of her father's inheritance, as does a widow.
This is a classic case in which the wealth of the community renders gender
equality irrelevant. The establishment of UCC will lead to gender parity,
which, in turn, will lead to stability, safety, and peace in society.
CHAPTER 5: REFERENCES:
Article Information
Women’s Property Rights And Need For Uniform Civil Code By: Devshree Rajendra Somvanshi
Authors: Devshree Rajendra Somvanshi
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2023/03/25
- Volume 2
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Access Open Access
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