While the role of unequal land rights in determining the status of different caste and class groups in India has been the subject of much debate, their impact on women's status has generally escaped attention. In fact the patriarchal bias of the social and the legal system gives rise to the assumption that once the men of the family have land, the women's needs are automatically taken care of This study attempts to place the issue of the denial of land rights to Ho tribal women in the context of women's daily lives, work, struggle for survival and status in the family and community.