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<p>This study explores the historical evolution of Omani women’s rights to water and land, mostly based on 122 Arabic manuscripts on inheritance and dower, spanning the 10th to 20th centuries CE. In Oman’s agrarian society, women’s socio-economic empowerment was historically anchored in the ownership of water and land, granted primarily through Islamic inheritance and dower laws under Ibāḍī jurisprudence. These legal frameworks provided safeguards against exploitation and recognized women’s entitlement to agricultural assets. However, tribal customs increasingly undermined these rights, favoring the retention of territorial properties, particularly water sources and lands, within male-dominated lineages. By the 17th century, changes in political and economic dynamics, including increased cash flow during the Ya’rubi era, facilitated a gradual transition from water-land rights to monetary assets in both dowers and inheritance. This monetization process eroded women’s traditional economic roles and accordingly weakened their socio-economic standing, by driving them out of the core of agricultural production systems toward the margin. Building on the framework of feminist political economy, the study highlights how women’s legal rights were progressively reshaped by socio-economic changes on a larger scale, which contributes to women’s studies in the Middle East.</p>

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The female economy and the historical evolution of women’s rights to water and land in Oman

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月18日

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  • Nasser Al Saadi,
  • Majid Labbaf Khaneiki,
  • Zahra Saif Al-Abri,
  • Harriet Nash

摘要

This study explores the historical evolution of Omani women’s rights to water and land, mostly based on 122 Arabic manuscripts on inheritance and dower, spanning the 10th to 20th centuries CE. In Oman’s agrarian society, women’s socio-economic empowerment was historically anchored in the ownership of water and land, granted primarily through Islamic inheritance and dower laws under Ibāḍī jurisprudence. These legal frameworks provided safeguards against exploitation and recognized women’s entitlement to agricultural assets. However, tribal customs increasingly undermined these rights, favoring the retention of territorial properties, particularly water sources and lands, within male-dominated lineages. By the 17th century, changes in political and economic dynamics, including increased cash flow during the Ya’rubi era, facilitated a gradual transition from water-land rights to monetary assets in both dowers and inheritance. This monetization process eroded women’s traditional economic roles and accordingly weakened their socio-economic standing, by driving them out of the core of agricultural production systems toward the margin. Building on the framework of feminist political economy, the study highlights how women’s legal rights were progressively reshaped by socio-economic changes on a larger scale, which contributes to women’s studies in the Middle East.