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Gender-Neutral Inheritance Laws, Family Structure, and Women’s Status in India

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  • Sulagna Mookerjee

Abstract

This paper examines whether economic empowerment of women improves their autonomy within their marital household, and investigates the mechanism, by exploiting variation from a legal reform aimed at improving women’s inheritance rights in India. Results suggest that the reform increased women’s participation in decision-making but at the expense of the older generation of household members and not at the expense of their husbands. Two channels are proposed to explain this phenomenon. First, this can be driven by a shift in the family structure from traditional joint families to nuclear households. Such a change is consistent both with the increase in women’s decision-making authority, which they can exert to move out of the joint household, as well as with men’s incentives, since men have weaker financial links with their parents post-reform. Second, even within joint families, the amendments empowered young couples at the expense of the older generation of household members.

Suggested Citation

  • Sulagna Mookerjee, 2019. "Gender-Neutral Inheritance Laws, Family Structure, and Women’s Status in India," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 33(2), pages 498-515.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:wbecrv:v:33:y:2019:i:2:p:498-515.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/wber/lhx004
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    Cited by:

    1. Margaux Suteau, 2020. "Inheritance Rights and Women's Empowerment in the Labor and Marriage Markets," THEMA Working Papers 2020-17, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    2. Etienne Breton, 2021. "A Tale of Two Villages: Development and Household Change in India," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(2), pages 347-375, June.
    3. Etienne Breton, 2019. "Modernization and Household Composition in India, 1983–2009," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(4), pages 739-766, December.
    4. Dhanaraj, Sowmya & Mahambare, Vidya, 2019. "Family structure, education and women’s employment in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 17-29.
    5. Gram, Lu & Skordis-Worrall, Jolene & Mannell, Jenevieve & Manandhar, Dharma S. & Saville, Naomi & Morrison, Joanna, 2018. "Revisiting the patriarchal bargain: The intergenerational power dynamics of household money management in rural Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 193-204.
    6. Liyousew Gebremedhin Borga, 2023. "Family policy, intrahousehold bargaining, and child health," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 663-684, May.
    7. Dhanaraj, Sowmya & Mahambare, Vidya, 2019. "Family structure, education and women’s employment in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 17-29.

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