Single Women’s Rights

Across rural India, single women, including those who are widowed, unmarried, aged, abandoned, separated, or divorced, continue to face deep-rooted stigma, discrimination, and economic exclusion. Often denied voice, dignity, and agency, many struggle to access entitlements, livelihoods, and property rights. For nearly a decade, ARPAN has been working to advance the rights, leadership, and social recognition of single women through a holistic approach that combines awareness, collective action, and access to welfare schemes. Our initiatives focus on assessing the social, economic, and cultural realities of single women, connecting them to welfare schemes and livelihood opportunities, addressing land rights issues through collective and legal interventions, and fostering leadership through village-level groups that strengthen representation and solidarity.

Through an evidence-based approach, we have co-created awareness and leadership programmes with single women on land rights, livelihoods, and gender-based violence. Our initiatives have led to land registrations in women’s names, resolution of legal and documentation challenges, improved access to welfare schemes, and formation of village-level leadership groups that strengthened solidarity and self-reliance among single women. Through these sustained efforts, we continue to build a movement of single women who are reclaiming their rights, asserting their agency, and shaping a more inclusive and equitable future.