Gender and Property Law in Pakistan, Resources and Discourses

This is perhaps the only study that examines systematically the situation on the ground regarding women and property laws in Pakistan. Through seven case studies in the four provinces of Pakistan, Mehdi finds that there is a history of usufructuary rights exercised by women in the country’s rural areas. Defined as, “the right to the use, and to take the fruits of land for life only” usufructuary rights exist in different forms starting from communal land, to a woman’s right to the house and land of her parents. The dependence in rural areas on common property resources for food and housing is high, especially for the poor. Women, as members of the village community thus have had grazing and gathering rights on these lands.