Women activists are furious. The 11th Muluki Ain (Civil Code) Amendment Bill, popularly called the Property Rights Bill, was approved by the Lower House of Parliament on Tuesday amidst a boycott by the CPN (UML). The main opposition argued that the Bill undermines the equality guaranteed by the constitution. If the Bill becomes law in its present form, it will allow women to inherit equal property once they are 16, but they will have to return it if they marry. Currently women can inherit parental property-if they have reached 35 and are unmarried. The government decision to go ahead with the Bill as it is signals a reversal of an earlier decision of parliament's Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Committee to allow women to retain parental property even after they get married. A study carried out by the Committee around the country earlier this year indicated that more than 90 percent of the people surveyed demanded an amendment to the present system of division of parental property.