Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine how women in urban slums in Kolkata define home. What does home mean to them? How do they describe a sense of belonging? The paper will delve into the social and cultural factors that make a home for women and examine the relationship of such factors with legal rights.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will examine how women in selected urban slums in Kolkata define home. What does home mean to them? Is there a distinction between home and house? How do they describe and determine a sense of belonging? The paper will delve into the social and cultural factors that make a home for women and examine the relationship of such factors with legal rights. There are many laws in India that grant legal rights to women and promote gender equality. Are women in the slums aware of these laws? How do they define their relationship with their homes vis a vis the law? Do women rely on laws for rights or customs and relationships? These questions will be examined through the stories and experiences of women by conducting focus group discussions and personal interviews. The writer expects that the narratives about women and their ideas of home will traverse geographical spaces and will not be limited to the walls of the home. There will be incursions within the community and links will also be built between the political, economic and cultural factors that either marginalise or empower working class women in poor neighbourhoods in the city of Kolkata, that is grappling with twenty first century forces of globalisation.