Good laws, bad outcomes

Land rights and inheritance practices for Christian women in Bangladesh

Datos Bibliográficos

ID14799695
AutoresJoyce Das (Australian National University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2016
Volumen48
Número2
Páginas159-185
Fecha de publicación2016-05-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0732-9113 • E-ISSN: 2305-9931
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07329113.2016.1197512
OpenAlexW2474532890
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas38

This paper explores a critical gender issue: women's land rights in the context of legal pluralism, focusing on the minority Christian community in Bangladesh. While the Christian Personal Law in Bangladesh provides substantial inheritance rights, in practice most women fail to exercise these rights. This paper shows that women's land (dis)inheritance is closely linked with processes of identity creation and protection. Linking theories of legal pluralism with community identity and gender, this paper argues that the patriarchal Bangladeshi Christian community use, alter, or locally create the law to protect their identity as a religious minority community at the expense of women's land rights. On the basis of my ethnographic research carried out in Bangladesh, I also examine the consequences of gender inequality in land inheritance practices, finding a difference between legal land ownership and actual possession and use. These consequences travel generation after generation and both increase the possibilities of exacerbating the inter- and intra-religious conflicts and tensions within Bangladesh and often aggravate the insecurities and vulnerabilities of the Christian minorities

Context (archaeology · Geography · Identity (music · Inheritance (genetic algorithm · Land law · Land tenure · Legal pluralism · Legal realism · Legal research · Pluralism (philosophy · Political science · Possession (linguistics · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Gender Studies · Land Rights and Reforms · Law · Urban and Rural Development Challenges