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Politics, Women and Well-Being

Part of the book series: Cambridge Commonwealth Series ((CAMCOM))

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Abstract

Between the 1920s and the 1950s, disarray and dispute in matrilineal families affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Malabar, Cochin and Travancore. Intense and widespread, the problem drove people to try to change laws relating to inheritance and marriage. It thereby drew a larger proportion of people into public political activity than occurred elsewhere in India where family structures did not break down so completely. Women in matrilineal families could do little to preserve the advantages of their forebears; yet even in the emerging patrilocal, patrilineal society, they created a place for themselves that was unique in India.

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Notes

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

    Robin Jeffrey

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  1. Robin Jeffrey
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© 1992 Robin Jeffrey

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Jeffrey, R. (1992). Family. In: Politics, Women and Well-Being. Cambridge Commonwealth Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12252-3_4

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