The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c17.s2.26

c17.s2.26

It thus came to happen that the proprietary rights, which were not recognised in the Vedic age when women were better educated and enjoyed greater freedom, came gradually to be recognised during this period. It is true that the doctrine of perpetual tutelage of women became popular at this time, and it should normally have proved fatal to the recognition and development of their proprietary rights. But men do not always seriously believe in the solemn theories they haughtily enunciate, nor do they care to draw all possible corollaries from them. Such was the case with the theory of women’s perpetual tutelage. Jurists felt no self-contradiction in declaring that women were unfit for independence, and yet investing them with new proprietary rights. They thought that sufficient regard would be shown to the theory of perpetual tutelage by laying down that women could enjoy only the income of their inheritance, but not dispose of its corpus.