Women’s Rights and Economic Development

Since Boserup’s seminal work on ‘Woman’s role in economic development, women empowerment has witnessed great attention, especially in developing economies; and the struggle for gender equality has gained momentum. It has been acknowledged that to stimulate equality, diversity, and productivity of the economies, as well as, shift gears in the gender roles at the individual, household and community levels; women empowerment is the most effective channel—empower them to participate equally in economic decision-making across existing markets, access decent work and productive resources, and take control over their own time, lives and bodies. However, what’s not weighed enough is the backlash of the empowerment. This backlash which can be defined as structural and institutionalized oppression of women, including violence against them, is driven by patriarchy, where men retaliate to the power-shift due to women empowerment. Patriarchal norms do not make way for gender inequality, rather, raise controls over women and curtail their autonomy. Such issues are more abysmal in developing and under-developed regions. As much as 83% of the agricultural land is inherited by male members of the family. A region-wise break-up shows 28% of female ownership of land in the hills and only 8% in the east and west India each. The World Economic Forum meeting in 2018 emphasized that India is one of the 15 countries in the world where deep-rooted patriarchal norms hamper women from claiming and exercising their rights to property. It is important to mention when an institutional change such as an inheritance law comes into force, this entrenched patriarchy becomes visible in the form of violence against women, as women attempt to claim their property rights, leading men resort to violence to sustain their power in response to women’s increased status.