Women of most South Asian communities today have considerable legal rights to inherit landed property. But to what degree can they exercise their rights in practice? What factors constrain them from doing so fully? These questions are addressed here primarily in relation to traditionally patrilineal communities, with a brief contrasting look at traditionally matrilineal and bilateral ones. Although regional differences are highlighted at various points in the discussion below, a more systematic examination of the crossregional variations is deferred to chapter 8.

The gap between law and practice in traditionally patrilineal communities

Ethnographic information, although it is extremely fragmentary, consistently indicates that women in traditionally patrilineal communities of South Asia rarely realize the rights that contemporary laws have promised them. Custom still dominates practice. Hence the vast majority of women do not inherit landed property as daughters, most don't do so even as widows, and few women inherit in other capacities. To the extent women inherit, it is usually under very restricted conditions.