When a home of her own is a woman’s lifeline

Owning a house gives a woman an exit option. It deters violence and gives her a place to stay if she does face abuse. It provides what economists call ‘a credible threat point’.

4 min readJun 22, 2026 06:28 AM IST

First published on: Jun 22, 2026 at 06:28 AM IST

Twisha Sharma’s untimely death in Bhopal on May 12, following reported spousal abuse and dowry demands, is just one of several thousand such deaths reported annually in India. People often ask me (given my research on gender inequality issues): Why don’t even educated professional women leave abusive marriages? My answer is simple: Usually because they have nowhere to go.

A woman could potentially return to her parents, but most Indian parents encourage a daughter to “adjust” and view her return from a “failed marriage” as a blot. What about a shelter home for victims of domestic violence? Apart from inadequate numbers, these can, at best, provide temporary emergency refuge. The same goes for friends. A rental apartment can be expensive, would not be available immediately if you have to flee violence, and landlords are often suspicious of single women tenants. The one sure protection, however, can be owning an apartment, even a one-room studio flat.

My research with a colleague, Pradeep Panda, on spousal physical violence among ever-married women in 502 randomly selected rural and urban households in Kerala (a state with high female education and female-favourable sex ratios), showed that owning immovable property (house or land) provided the single most important protection against this. The incidence of domestic violence (DV) was 49 per cent where women owned neither house nor land, 18 per cent and 10 per cent respectively if they owned land or a house, and only 7 per cent if they owned both. Simply being employed did not help unless it was a formal-sector job (which barely 10 per cent of Indian women have). Working in a family enterprise or farm does not provide women independent or assured earnings. Subsequent research, in UP in India, as well as other countries, has reinforced these findings.

Owning a house gives a woman an exit option. It deters violence and gives her a place to stay if she does face abuse. It provides what economists call “a credible threat point”. Also, in our study, very few of the propertyless women who faced DV left their spouses, and of those who did, most returned. Women owning homes, on the other hand, rarely returned.

In 2005, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was passed. Its implementation has been poor. Neither policymakers nor most women’s groups have made the link between DV and women’s home ownership, even though the Hindu Succession Amendment Act, also passed in 2005, gave married women coparcenary rights in ancestral property and the legal right to return to their parental homes.

The just-released NFHS-6 (2023-24) factsheet shows that women own a house or land (individually or jointly) in only 18.8 per cent of households across India, Even in Kerala, the figure is just 34 per cent.

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana , which gives homes to poor urban families, prioritises female household heads. This is a welcome start, but not enough. Middle-class women facing violent marriages also need independent housing support. There are three aspects to this. One is architectural — the need to build several affordable studio apartments in every multi-storey housing complex. The second is financial — some government schemes do provide subsidies and charge women buyers lower interest on loans, but awareness is limited, and a grant along with the loan would help. The third is the need to think outside the box. For instance, women can jointly own homes with other women if they can’t afford one alone. Parents could also gift funds for such purchases, instead of the usual dowry in jewellery and moveable items. Joint home ownership with non-relatives is possible in India with a co-ownership agreement, under laws such as the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, and the Registration Act, 1908. Much can be done to protect women from spousal violence, the most effective measure being helping them buy a room or a plot of their own.

The writer is professor, Development Economics & Environment, GDI, University of Manchester, & former director, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi