Women Land And Power In Asia

Across the world women constitute an integral part of the agricultural sector. This volume is based on feminist responses to farming women’s struggle for economic rights and social justice in Asia, and seeks to provide a greater understanding of the development consequences of women’s marginal, limited ownership rights to land and other productive assets. Using comprehensive analyses, quantitative and qualitative data, and case studies from India, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region, this volume brings together scholars and activists engaged with women’s unmediated entitlement to land and productive assets. While generally taking a position in favour of asset redistribution, the volume addresses two major issues: first, the conflict between legal measures and socio-cultural norms, in a context where laws that seek to secure gender equality and women’s economic empowerment are often overruled by norms that favour men; and second, how changes in the global economy in relation to traditional farming practices have adversely impacted women’s rights, especially in regions where they previously enjoyed more customary rights in asset control and management. The book draws attention to issues of economic security, gender equitable access to resources and asset-building, human rights and law, land-based livelihoods, caste and ethnic diversity, and voices in the women’s movements. This book will be useful to policy makers, civil society organisations, researchers and students of gender and women’s studies, development studies, sociology, economics and agriculture.

This remarkable book charts the effects of the economic boom on women across Asia. Yori Matsui, one of Japan's leading journalists, demonstrates how Asian women are confronting rapid economic developmentwhich is accompanied by widespread infringement of human rights. Analysing the lives of women in Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Nepal, and Korea, the author explores * the impact of globalization - including the feminization of migration and an increase in the trafficking of women * sexual violence - from the 'comfort women' to child prostitution * development projects - the cause of mass deforestation and displacement of communities However she also describes women's credit co-ops, democratization movements and unionization of women workers. She meets women who have organised ant-logging blockades, literacy classes and campaighns against trafficking. She finds women across Asia resisiting the dictatorship od development, the feminization of poverty and patriarchal values. Throughout the continent she finds the seeds of hope for a new Asia.

Gender and Power in Affluent Asia is the first major study to analyse the relatioships between gender and power that have accompanied the rise of Asian affluence.

This is the first major study of gender and property in South Asia. In a pioneering and comprehensive analysis Bina Agarwal argues that the single most important economic factor affecting women's situation is the gender gap in command over property. In rural South Asia, the most significant form of property is arable land, a critical determinant of economic well-being, social status, and empowerment. But few women own land; fewer control it. Drawing on a vast range of interdisciplinary sources and her own field research, and tracing regional variations across five countries, the author investigates the complex barriers to women's land ownership and control, and how they might be overcome. The book makes significant and original contributions to theory and policy concerning land reforms, 'bargaining' and gender relations, women's status, and the nature of resistance.

A handbook for understanding the situations of women in Asia today

This report highlights that gender inequalities and women's subordination in India are caused by two formidable macro-structures: patriarchy and the exclusion of unpaid work from the macro-economy. The papers have explored pathways to break these structures gradually to achieve gender equality and empower women.

This study looks at the social and economic status, family and workforce roles, and quality of life of women in the rural sectors of monsoonal and equatorial Asia, from Pakistan to Japan, where life often is characterized by unemployment, underemployment, and poverty.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- List of contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 The Eastern Himalaya and the Mongoloid myth -- 2 Access to water and gender rights in India: contextualising the various debates through the study of a mountain village in Sikkim -- 3 Challenges to women as food and risk managers in the context of floods: a case study from Tinsukia -- 4 'Constructed' images of gender and gender roles in the Northeastern Himalayas: virtual and actual -- 5 Towards a research collaboration with indigenous communities in India -- 6 Female MGNREGA workers and poverty reduction in Sikkim -- 7 Coping with conflict: gendered narratives in the Mizo uprising -- 8 Women in the land of Jade: issues and interventions -- Index