ABSTRACT
Unequal distribution of rights to property is central in defining the position of women in humikwa society. Anecdote maintains that women who inherit their own patrimonial estate have more say in household affairs than those who share their husband's patrimony. In a general way the property rights of divorced women and widows can be simply described. The woman who divorces her husband gets nothing except her own dowry property. The nature of property ownership within the household, however, has not been analyzed. There are some contexts where it appears that the corporate household is the property-owning unit. 20-25 percent of all women in Chumik spend their lives unmarried. As the trongba estates comprise the core of political and economic organization in the villages, the status of unmarried women is essentially peripheral. The personal ornaments of a married woman, aside from those she and her husband purchase, come from two sources: her own parents and her husband's family.
