Land Ownership and Well-Being of Women in a Village in Kerala

Abstract

This article scrutinises to what extent land ownership improves the well-being of women, focusing on a village in Kerala, a South Indian state known for its land reforms ‘model’ that provided land to the tiller and ownership rights to tenants. However, have these radical land reforms actually succeeded in providing ownership rights to women, thereby contributing to their well-being? We ask in this intensive village study to what extent these admittedly radical land reforms provide adequate land rights to women in Kerala in terms of such ownership translating into absolute and effective rights.