The Litigious Widow in South Asia: A Study in Paradoxes

While widowhood in India is synonymous to destitution – economically and symbolically – the right of widows as primary heirs with equal property rights as men owes its advent to both colonial and postcolonial lawmaking. Feminist discourses have since found these laws lacking both in gender neutral conceptualisations, as well as fruitful implementation. Within the present market-driven economy where land is a primary productive resource, the idea of a widow as a legal actor to claim property is an anathema, especially in a rural, agrarian setting. Rarely, she becomes the individual who must address the law, given her identity is subsumed under the rubric of family and work, and imbued with the circumstance of ‘have-nots’ facing difficulty in ‘coming out ahead in litigation’ against their superiors. Even as ‘a field of one’s own’ promises sustainable livelihood, status and increased bargaining power for women, can the widow successfully activate the legal system and gain land as property? I will engage with this paradox from the viewpoint of the Bengali Hindu widow; taking into account parallel developments in the fate of widows in other South Asian countries, where widowhood acquires similar social meanings due to shared gendered norms. The aim is to compare, contrast and analyse the specificity that post-colonial law making in India, especially Bengal, has brought about in the widows’ position in the society.