Abstract
Women are an integral part of a family which constitutes a society and thus a nation. Daughter, wife, mother, sister
and various roles are played by a woman in her life time. Once married she becomes a backbone of her family who
performs multiskilled responsibilities and without whom the concept of a matrimonial home seems to be nugatory.
Despite her omnipresent character she is often treated as a mere chattel of her husband without the identity of her
own. Particularly the homemakers never receive any financial recognition as their contribution in the family is not
considered to be productive work. Shifting of concept of marriage from sacrament to contract and progress of
divorce laws from contest to consent and most likely to be breakdown of marriage it becomes extremely important
to give due recognition to the various roles played by women. Marriage needs to be treated as an equal economic
partnership between the spouses irrespective of their financial contribution. Concept of community of property
regime needs to be incorporated in the Indian family jurisprudence. This paper attempts to focus upon the current
matrimonial property rights of women and future possibilities that can be incorporated in our legal system. The
author tends to limit the scope to Hindu Marriage Act. In order to achieve the aforesaid, emphasis has been made
upon various legal systems across the globe and best suited model for Indian family jurisprudence.

Key words: Marriage, Divorce, Maintenance, Matrimonial property rights, Breakdown of marriage, Postdivorce status of women, contribution of home maker.