Setting the record straight: Less than 10% of Indian women may own land

New study suggests earlier ownership surveys may have overestimated their rights

In the eighties, Mary Roy sued her brother after being threatened with eviction from their father's cottage in Ooty where she lived with her two children after walking out of an abusive marriage. The Travancore Christian Succession Act denied Syrian Christian daughters the right to inherit property if the father died without a will. Roy’s litigation paved the way for the Act to be abolished and women to inherit property in their name. Separately, Parliament amended the Hindu Succession Act to give women equal inheritance rights in 2005.

Despite such reforms, the share of Indian women who own property may be lower than estimated earlier, according to a recent study. Land ownership by Indian women may actually be 5.5 per cent rather than 31.7 per cent; according to 'Status of Women’s Landownership in India: A Comparison of Estimates from NFHS and AIDIS,' published in the Economic and Political Weekly (EPW, April 2024). Men’s share is 35-45 per cent (chart 1).

Figures from the fifth and latest round of the NFHS, short for National Family Health Survey, puts land ownership by women at 31.7 per cent, but an analysis of AIDIS (All India Debt and Investment Survey) suggests that it may actually be closer to 5.5 per cent. The difference could be due to several factors, according to the study. One could be the increased involvement of private agencies in data collection for NFHS-5, which is unlike the National Statistical Office that conducts AIDIS. The two surveys collected data differently: NFHS-5 relied on self-reporting by women and AIDIS often involved proxy reporting by household heads (typically male) or other members, potentially leading to under-reporting.

States too show lower land ownership by women than estimated earlier. NFHS says the share of women owning land is 14 per cent in Mizoram and according to AIDIS it is 4.7 per cent. Maharashtra figures vary similarly: From 14.7 per cent according to NFHS and 6.7 per cent as per AIDIS. The EPW study noted an inverse relationship with education and women owning land. AIDIS data shows that around 8 per cent of illiterate women own land, decreasing to 4.3 per cent among those with higher education. NFHS data puts land ownership by illiterate women at 39 per cent and 28 per cent for those who had higher education.

Even NFHS-5’s higher estimates are lower than seen in other countries for women who own land by themselves (chart 2).

Women’s say in other assets is limited too. Less than five per cent of firms have some female ownership in India. It is over 20 per cent in Nepal (chart 3).

Despite getting a favourable ruling in the 1980s, Mary Roy got her share of the inheritance after more legal battles in 2010. She donated it to charity.