INHERITANCE IN PROPERTY: A GENDER BASED DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICE IN RURAL AREAS OF TANGI, DISTRICT CHARSADDA

This paper attempts to know the existing practice of inheritance in agricultural property on gender basis, and also to identify various hurdles in the way of giving share to women in Tangi, a big village of Charsadda district in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The study, conducted in 2009, contained the total sample size of 120 male landowners and female members of the same families. The study revealed that women were mostly exploited in receiving shares in their parental property for socio-cultural and economic reasons such as unawareness about their rights, no practice of share giving in the area, threat to severe family relations after share is given and provision of dowry articles at marriage time etc. The minimal number of share-recipient women also had male members of their parental families annoyed. The benefited women belonged to either religious families or endogamous families. The study suggests that the religious scholars need to come forward and stress upon the people in religious sermons to adhere to religion regarding the matter of inheritance, entitling both men and women for their due shares in property.