Women’s Inheritance Rights to Land and Property in South Asia – A Comparative analysis of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka

The rights and remedies available to women all over the world and in all spheres of life have always been unequal and deprived them of their basic needs and wants – since hundreds of years. One such sphere is inheritance of property for women as compared to their male counterparts as these finances play a major role in shaping the lives of the receiver of ingerited property. For the purpose of such evaluation – this paper focuses on emphasis on women inheritance rights in South Asia. A comparative analysis is conducted for six South Asian countries, namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Taking into account the social, political and economic standing of these nations and statutory as well as customary provisions that governs the matters of inheritance in these countries, this paper critically evaluates the status of women and the rights and remedies available to them. It claims that even where certain rights are bestowed upon women, the implementation still continues to be a major task. This paper gauges the degree of social and legal barriers women will have to overcome in order to claim equal shares in matters of land and property