10 - The long march ahead

Summary

My bangles are broken,

my days of shame are gone.

I have one small son, one calf, one field.

A calf to feed, a son to nurture,

but the land, baiji, this half acre of earth

to feed me, to rest my head.

(Malli, a Rajasthani widow I interviewed in 1987)

What are the macro-scenarios that South Asian village women, such as Malli, have to contend with in their attempts to claim a field that they can call their own? Which organizational forms of landownership and control and institutional support structures could help establish women's effective command over the land they claim? What legal reforms are still necessary? Would a greater female presence in public decision-making bodies help promote rural women's concerns? What would strengthen women's ability to bargain with the community and the State and within the household? Is collective action by women across class/caste lines possible? How might local struggles link with national ones? Many such questions will need to be addressed in the course of women's journey to gain effective land rights. This concluding chapter examines these and related questions in the light of the central arguments made earlier. The chapter is divided into three sections. Section I will recapitulate the main arguments on why women need independent land rights, and the nature of existing legal, social and institutional obstacles to their realizing these rights. Section II will discuss, in broad terms, issues that are likely to need particular attention in the process of change and outline some ideas on how these issues could be approached; and section III will focus on the macro-scenarios impinging on women's struggles for land rights.