世界银行-印度是如何成功改革妇女权利的？第一部分：平等继承权运动的答案（英）

How Did India Successfully Reform Women’s Rights? Part I: Answers from the Movement on Equal Inheritance Rights Julia Constanze Braunmiller,* Isabel Santagostino Recavarren,*Aparna Mittal,** and Tanvi Khatri**his two-part policy brief series traces the development and reform of law in India related to three critical areas that afect women’s rights and economic opportunities: women’s property rights, domestic violence, and sexual harassment in the workplace. It explores the underlying factors and driving forces that led to reforms as well as the broad processes and extensive timelines required for change. It also highlights the remaining gaps in the rights for Indian women, including how the absence of robust implementation as well as inadequate administrative and infrastructural support for reform—coupled with deeply entrenched patriarchal mindsets—often makes real gender equality elusive for many. Te achievements in India, which are the result of years of concerted eforts and thought leadership by multiple governmental and nongovernmental players, private actors, and women’s rights activists, could function as a “how to” guide for other countries that may want to carry out similar reforms in the future. Tis frst Brief in the series explores the reform of (Hindu) women’s inheritance rights. Starting in 1975, several states reformed the (federal) Hindu Succession Act of 1956, improving women’s rights to inheritance, until a federal reform occurred in 2005. However, additional reforms are needed in order to overcome gender discriminatory legal provisions and social norms that perpetuate the exclusion of women from accessing and owning property. TLegal reforms on women’s rights are key to achieving sustainable and inclusive growth India has experienced immense economic growth over the past seven decades. However, while gender equality and women’s rights and safety have been consistently stated as a key focus of the government of India, the pace of reform of Indian law in this area, as well as measures of women’s economic participation more generally, have not kept up with the country’s burgeoning economic growth. In particular, the rate of female labor force participation remains very low: since 1990, this rate has actually declined from 27.8 percent in 1990 to only 23.0 percent in 2021 (compared to 72.7 percent for males) (fgure 1). While male labor force participation has declined as well during this timeframe, a gender gap of almost 50 percentage points means that several economic, social, legal, and policy measures are needed in order to bring women’s participation closer to men’s. Around the world, reform of legal frameworks plays a signifcant role in expanding women’s economic participation and empowerment. If India’s growth is to be sustained, it almost certainly will demand that more than one in four women participate in the workforce. Te World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law project has consistently shown the critical links betw