Voices To Choices

Women have experienced significant changes in various spheres of their lives during the last decades as Bangladesh made economic progress. Yet women’s economic engagement and empowerment are subdued, as they cannot make sufficient choices for themselves. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic developments in gender equality in Bangladesh. Through examining women’s participation in the labour force, ownership and control of household assets, use and control of financial assets, and opportunities for entrepreneurship, the authors have made concrete recommendations to overcome challenges that lie ahead for women’s economic empowerment. This book is an important contribution to the knowledge on interventions required by the policy makers and broader stakeholders towards narrowing gender gaps. --Fahmida Khatun, PhD, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh The women’s story is central to Bangladesh’s economic and social transformation. There is an urgent need to deepen researched understanding of the multidimensional pathways of women’s economic empowerment and extent of real progress made. Voices to Choices is an important contribution to this story. Surely, the journey of women’s economic empowerment remains a long and challenging one. Realizing the full benefits of new opportunities is often hampered by both new and entrenched insecurities. The task is as much one of empowering women’s agency as of dismantling barriers. The responsibility is as much women’s as society’s. --Hossain Zillur Rahman, PhD, Executive Chairman, Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) This book provides critical insights and is timely, as it outlines how girls and women in Bangladesh have gained more opportunities in labor force participation, control over household and financial assets, as well as greater prospects for entrepreneurship. The findings will greatly contribute to future policy and planning for government and key stakeholders working to advance women’s economic empowerment in the country. --Sabina Faiz Rashid, PhD, Dean and Professor, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health BRAC University

There is a growing realization that many of the problems afflicting American elections can be traced to the electoral system itself, in particular to our winner-take-all approach to electing officials. Douglas Amy demonstrates that switching to proportional representation elections--the voting system used in most other Western democracies, by which officials are elected in large, multimember districts according to the proportion of the vote won by their parties--would enliven democratic political debate, increase voter choice and voter turnout, ensure fair representation for third parties and minorities, eliminate wasted votes and "spoliers," and ultimately produce policies that better reflect the public will. Looking beyond new voting machines and other quick fixes for our electoral predicament, this new edition of Real Choices/New Voices offers a timely and imaginative way out of the frustrations of our current system of choosing leaders.

How to win the battle to bring opportunity scholarships to your state, based on the dramatic story and ultimately successful campaign of D.C. Parents for School Choice: Get the inside story on this grassroots effort and empower parents for your own campaign. This book teaches parents how to fight to free children from failing schools. It equips you to speak out and secure school choice so that the right learning environment can be given to each child. You get both instruction and inspiration in this compelling, candid book.

Are you tired of seeking and searching for answers and acceptance and always coming up empty? Are you losing hope? Have you stopped dreaming? Are you living a discouraged, defeated life, focused on your failures and seemingly endless sources of discontent? Regardless of the reason, your disappointment plays right into the plans and purposes of your enemy: to keep you down and depressed, pathetic and unproductive, to poison your potential and corrupt your calling. Let Sierra Kinsley share lessons learned from her own riveting, heartrending journey away from rejection and abuse, destructive choices, and the relentless pursuit of more to the powerful, life-changing truths that offered her true freedom and forgivenessthe same truths that will set you free and guide you to your own personal victory. Your Choices Matter is filled with principles, proofs, and promises as well as extraordinary stories to guide, encourage, and inspire you to pull out of your pit and into your potentialto transform you into the person you were created to be so you can begin living the life you were meant to live. You dont have to remain a victim of your trying and troubled past or a prisoner of your present circumstances. This time really can be different. You can break free from your condemning voices and crummy choices, even the unfair circumstances that have beaten you down and bruised or broken your spirit. You can overcome the pain of the past and live a richer, fuller, more productive lifeYour Choices Matter shows you howone right choice at a time.

Local Voices, Local Choices: The Tacare Approach to Community-Led Conservation chronicles the stories behind Jane Goodall's holistic approach to conservation in Africa.

In this pioneering collection of essays, experts from various disciplines examine the remarkable contribution of Hispanic churches to U.S. society and the common challenges church leaders face in serving the country’s growing Latino population.