Workshop on women’s right to property held at Prajna Counselling Centre

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Nov 24, 2011 : Prajna Counselling Centre organized a workshop on Women and Property Rights on Nov 23 Wednesday, as part of the Karnataka Household Asset Survey (KHAS) project of Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

 

 

 

 

The workshop had sessions on gender, law, legal literary, inheritance, succession legislation, and problem solving. The participants were also given an overview of KHAS.

Speaking about KHAS, she said that this project, titled “In Her Name: Measuring the Gender Asset Gap” is a study sponsored by the External Affairs Ministry of the Government of Netherlands in Ghana, Equador, and India. The study in India is being undertaken in Karnataka under the title Karnataka Household Asset Survey 2010 – 11, she said. It commenced in 2010 and is based on a survey taken of 4110 families in Karnataka to determine the percentage of gender-based possession of assets and property.

She said that the survey focuses on issues such as possession of land by men and women, how each gender acquires property, decision taking role of women, and ownership of property by women. According to this survey, land ownership was three times more among men while ownership of jewelry was more among women.

Soumya Bhat, the lawyer, moderated the discussions and spoke about the importance of legal knowledge for women. She stated that women’s marital status makes no difference to her claim over her share of the ancestral property.

The workshop comprised problem solving exercises and group discussions.