The First Property I Actually Understood
A few years ago, I accompanied my father for a property registration. I was a twenty-four-year-old woman earning my own salary. I sat in the car until I was called in. Signed where I was told. Went back to the car. That was my entire involvement. Property was handled by the men in my family. It always had been. I didn't question it. Why would I? It felt normal.
Few months ago, I sat in a Lex Business Lounge before registering a flat in my name - Quiet, unhurried and with documents in front of me. I found myself thinking about the property papers I've signed without reading. There have been a few. I couldn't tell you what any of them said. I signed where I was told. I assumed someone else had checked. I used to think this was just my family. Then I talked to other women. Same story. Different houses. We sign. We trust. We don't ask. Somewhere along the way, we learned that property is something men handle. Something to be managed for us, not understood by us.
I've signed property papers before. But something shifted when I bought a flat with my own money. This wasn't a family transaction. I wasn't just a signatory on someone else's decision. My savings. My name. I wanted to understand what I was agreeing to. Most spaces don't give you that chance. Cramped offices. Rushed explanations. Paperwork thrust at you with a "sign here." These places are designed for someone who wants it over with. Not someone who wants to understand.
At Lex, I had both. Time and space. I sat with my registration document. I read every clause. When something wasn't clear, I asked. Someone explained — calmly, without rushing me. I understood every clause. I knew what mutation meant. I knew what would happen after registration and what I'd need to follow up on. I walked into the SRO and signed papers I had already read. No one called me in. No one pointed to a line. I was already there. I wasn't just a signature anymore.
Women are buying, investing, inheriting, leading — in our own names now. More of us than before. We want to understand what we sign.
That's the shift. And it's ours.
