Women, Political Struggles and Gender Equality in South Asia

The brutal rape of a young woman on a bus in Delhi in 2012 lit a spark of outrage across the world. Young women marched in protest, urging recognition of the rights of women and greater gender equality. This book emerges in response to the young woman's subsequent death and the protests which followed. The contributors have come together to present a detailed analysis of the position of women in South Asia, the issue of violence and the long struggle for gender equality. They analyze violence in a number of countries and examine the courage and bravery of the many women who are fighting for justice.

Margaret Alston is Professor of Social Work at Monash University, Australia. She has a long career researching gender issues in her own country and across South Asia. She has published widely in the field of gender and social issues.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Women, Political Struggles and Activism: Exploring the Lives of Women in South Asia; Margaret Alston
PART I: GENDER BASED VIOLENCE IN SOUTH ASIA
2. Responding to Rape: Feminism and Young Middle-Class Women in India; Sneha Krishnan
3. Gendered Violence: Forms, Incidence and Legislation in India; Sadhna Arya and Shashi Khurana
4. Women Struggles Against Structural-based Violence in Pakistan; Bushra Khaliq
5. Women in Bangladesh: Resistance Fighters and Invisible Heroes in the Economy and Society; Rokeya Kabir and Omar Tarek Chowdhury
6. Intergenerational Prostitution in India: How a Cultural Practice Constitutes Sex Trafficking; Alix Dolson
PART II: ACTIVISM, RESISTANCE AND EMPOWERMENT
7. Powerful Perpetrators: A Kathmandu Perspective; Bidushi Dhungel
8. Living on the Edge: Mapping Homeless Women's Mobilisation in Kolkata, India; Paromita Chakravarti
9. Money where the Mouth is: Women, Capital and a Land Rights Movement; Kaushiki Rao and Anusha Hariharan
10. Linking Traditions of Resistance; Aruna Burte
PART III: POLITICS, LEADERSHIP AND REPRESENTATION
11. Substantive Representation and Violence against Women (VAW) in Pakistan; Shaheen Ashraf, SHAH
12. The Intersection of the Public and Private for Pashtun Women in Politics; Mary Hope Schwoebel
13. Creating Spaces for Change: Santali Women's Role in Local Level politics in Rural India; Carol Wrenn
14. Women's Transformational leadership in Bangladesh: Potentials and Challenges; Nazmunnessa Mahtab
15. Women and Politics in Patriarchy: Case of Bangladesh; Mahmuda Islam
Conclusion; Margaret Alston