‘Landholding-Patriarchy Hypothesis’ and Women’s Autonomy in Rural India: An Exploration of Linkage

This study has two-fold objectives; firstly, the paper aims to find out how far the size of household landholding directs patriarchal traits. Secondly, the paper innovate a means to understand the contributing factors to lowering women’s autonomy, thus, explore the relevance of ‘Landholding-patriarchy hypothesis’. Results indicate considerable variation in women’s autonomy with the size of their household landholding: women’s autonomy decreases with increasing size of household landholding. Evidence suggests that, landholding directs patriarchal traits, as manifested in a reasonable influence on women’s autonomy in rural India.