Women, property rights and HIV in India

In 2006, UNAIDS reported that almost half of the adults living with HIV and AIDS today were women. According to estimates, 38% of HIV-positive adults in India are women, and the number of young women, aged 15-24, living with HIV and AIDS is twice that of young men. HIV/AIDS has exposed the social inequities that predispose girls and women to HIV infection, but women need more than rights in order to protect themselves. In India, the AIDS epidemic magnifies the devastation of women’s property violations. In this country, women and their children are likely to face not only stigma against people affected by HIV and AIDS, but also deprivations caused by their inability to own and access property.

This brief discusses the adverse effects of HIV/AIDS on women's property rights in the Indian context. The author, who works for the Human Rights Law Network, describes the ways that women are deprived of property as a result of HIV and the pluralistic legal fora in which they can claim their rights.

You can download this publication from the website of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT).