TOPIC: URSULA SHARMA, Women, Work and Property in North-West India, London and New York, Tavistock

Publications, 1983.

The reading, ‘Women, Work and Property in North west India’ by Ursula Sharma represents a valuable contribution
of current debates on the significance of women’s work and property rights, and the particular effect of
‘development’ on women.

This study by Ursula Sharma suggests that rather than feeling Excluded, women themselves see land as joint
resource, with their contribution leading to male prestige and in turn their own ways. It implies the women’s roles in
the productive process are examined in relation to the system of:
 Property ownership
 Decision making
 Power
 Prestige in selected localities of North West India

The author concentrates on the status of women in two rural communities:

1.) Harbassi, Punjab:

The women from landowning families have withdrawn from agricultural work because of improved
economic status. But the poor women of that place tend to be squeezed out because of mechanization.
2.) Chaili, Himachal Pradesh:
The migration of male for work and thus the involvement of women in agricultural sect because of it, didn’t
guarantee benefits to women. The fundamental issues here is
a.) Ownership
b.) Management of resources
This generates:
1. Wealth
2. Land
3. Labor

In both the areas, the land is vested in men, that means that men had more right

1. Over labor of their family members and

2. New opportunities for wage labor had gone to them now

Thus, as a result Dependency of women is high with respect to their Economic status.

The focus of author is not only on the total social structure of these villages, but on the sample of households
located in or near them. Altogether, the detailed data was obtained from 17 households in Punjab and 11 in
Himachal Pradesh. Fieldwork techniques included participant observation and interviewing during an year period
(1977-78).

OBSERVATION:

1. The participation showed the general tendency of women to deprecate agricultural labor in favor of
democratic activity and the tendency of men to undervalue women’s contribution in agriculture.
2. The traditional disapproval of women’s presence in public places, the tendency to under educate women,
the lack of women’s opportunity to own property vital to production process Such as land; collectively
militate against any significant assertion of independence.
Throughout the study, the author reminds us that women’s role and position in society cannot be
understood.
 3. The author makes several important qualifications given above as a part of Jack Goody’s PRODUCTION and
REPRODUCTION. Goody’s discussion of dowry as ‘Pre- Mortem Inheritance’ for women is inappropriate here
as according to the author, ‘the Dowry is not an equal share in parental property’. Since, its size and
productive potential does not compare it with the land which son Inherit and the bride anyway, but rarely
retains control over it.
4. Thus, increased dependency of women, as per author, is also the major reason why DIVORCE is more
common and possibility of being returned to one’s parents (without one’s dowry) makes the prudent bride
circumspect.
The ‘Purdah’ ideology restrains on women’s mobility beyond their homes, their Submissiveness within them,
and their Inability to take Decisions about their own lives; are derived from and support Women’s economic
dependency on Men.

CONCLUSION:

The study by Ursula Sharma contributes significantly to an understanding of social and economic forces which
transcend the restricted geographical and social environment of the study. At the very least, they suggest that no
single factor is insufficient to explain the complex circumstances of women’s status in contemporary India.

Date: 05.04.2018 Submitted By: Shruti Jindal, B.A. (H) Psychology Semester IV
Subject: B.A. (H) Sociology (Subsidiary) Submitted To: Ms. Saumya, Dept. of Sociology