Rural Women in South Asia

Contents: Preface. 1. Rural women in South Asia/U. Kalpagam. 2. Rural women, work and empowerment/Preet Rustagi. 3. Gender discrimination in South Asia/Seema Joshi. 4. Rural women and empowerment: an economic perspective from Pakistan/Hina Nazli. 5. Micro-credit programmes and rural women: a case study of Lalitpur District of Nepal/Puspa Ghimere Niraula. 6. Rural women of Bangladesh: from home to market/Nazneen Ahmed. 7. Poverty and women in rural labour markets of North-Eastern Bangladesh/Fazila Banu Lily. 8. Women in non-farm activities in Sri Lanka: are women empowered or not?/Ramanie Jayatilaka. 9. Single women and motherhood in Sri Lanka: the consequences of war/Selvy Thiruchandran. 10. Bodies without rights: violence in the age of globalization/Subhadra Mitra Channa. 11. Emerging women leadership in Panchayati Raj Institutions: the Punjab experience/Prabhjot Kaur Kahlon. 12. Towards an engendered poverty paradigm in SAARC/Nandini Azad. Notes on editors and contributors. Index.

"The book highlights the commonalities and differences in rural women's experiences across the countries and communities of the South Asian region. It argues that the low status and weak empowerment of rural women is on account of the structural conditions of poverty and inequality in the region, the social and cultural shaping of gender ideologies and the multiple patriarchies and caste and class dominance through which poor women experience power relations. However, a sense of optimism pervades as country experiences reflect the renewed concerns and commitments about rural women's empowerment in both state policy and the significant snowballing of social activism in the region. The essays in the book reiterates the importance of poverty alleviation, providing decent work opportunities, investing in education and health, involving women in decision making and governance such that their substantive empowerment could be fostered by enhancing their capabilities, entitlement and choices." (jacket)