Abstract:
Land is considered as a means not only to generate an income, but also to
empower women and minimize their dependency. However, there is a disparity
in owenrship of property due to the pluralistic nature of a legal system that
prioritizes discriminatory customary and religious laws. In this context, this
paper focuses on the Thesawalamai law, one of the customary laws of Sri Lanka
that deprives and discriminates the married women of their right to land. The
disinclination to repeal the discriminatory provisions was sustained on the ground
that the repeal or revision of such provisions would be very sensitive as they
were derived from the inherent customary practice of the Tamils in North and
are constitutionally guaranteed. Based on a mixed method analysis, this paper
revisits the history and claim that the marital power of husbands which is being
instrumental in discriminating the married women, was not an inherent customary
practice of the early settlers, rather brought by the subsequent patriarchal peasants
and legitimized by colonial legislations and judicial pronouncements. It further
analyses the impact of the discriminatory provisions on the transformation of
women’s roles, particularly in the post-armed conflict context through a survey,
before suggesting the possible means to engendering the Thesawalamai.
