PERCEPTION OF FEMALE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARDS THEIR INHERITANCE RIGHTS

The Indian legal system recognizes women's legal right to inheritance. The property rights enshrined in the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 (as amended in 2005) testimonies the liberal progressive approach of Indian political system by placing female property rights at par with their male counterparts. This development of identifying daughter as a coparcener in father's ancestral property is phenomenal, although it contradicts Indian social structure as well as system. Patriarchy, traditional mindset of society, gendered socialization process and above all socio-cultural morality obstructs implementation of an otherwise egalitarian law. Nevertheless the logic of economic equality preceding the social equality, brings the issue of female inheritance into popular political discourse of women empowerment and therefore into research. This paper attempts to study the attitude of university educated female students towards their legal inheritance rights. The role of education in creating awareness regarding these rights and spirit to invoke them is under analysis. For the selection of respondents purposive sampling technique has been followed. The data has been collected from both married and unmarried girls by following questionnaire method. The findings state that despite a high level of awareness regarding inheritance rights, women prefer not to invoke them in the face of socio-cultural barriers.