Inheritance, property and women: some comparative considerations

Abstract

The author compares the variations and similarities among agricultural societies, within Europe, and occasionally among some Asian to the African societies. He concludes that in each case, the way that families related to the land and the forms of marital property agreements were very different. He points out that the roles assigned to the spouses are very tightly linked to the means of agricultural production, intensive in some cases (with ploughing and irrigation) and extensive in others (with burning and hoeing). These differences determined the position of women, the structure of social roles, the conduct of the clan and the strategic of family organisation. It is against this broad backdrop that Goody analyses the variations in Western European customs. For this same reason, the differences in marital property, the consequences of family separations and the way they affect relationships among relatives and friends are so important.