The Gendered Terrain of Maintenance for Women

This book is an effort to describe and analyze the reasons why women seek maintenance from their estranged husbands under 125CrPC. Despite the changing development paradigm in India, which is redefining gender roles making women more visible in the economic arena as well as in certain positions of power, a large number of women continue to depend on men for sustenance and survival.

The cultural construct of women being dependent needing protection and as symbols of honor of their families and community continue to haunt them throughout their life. While violence against women is one part of the increasing patriarchy in society, on the other hand the dependency of women continues to be another reality reinforced by socio-cultural norms and traditions. In India, within its diverse population, women’s experiences of childhood, adolescence and marriage follow complex patterns.

This book explores the 125CrPC, a common law for maintenance, which is one legal measure that women use to find a way out of destitution and get financial relief when a marriage ends. It makes an effort to locate the real life experiences of women in Delhi, who are seeking maintenance, the diversities in these experiences and explains the varied reasons as to why they need to do so. It also looks into why and how they reached the dependent status and what their experiences are while litigating for maintenance in the courts. It unravels the trials that they go through to prove their wifehood as chaste, obedient and pure so they may be granted maintenance and this is significantly highlighted in the book.