ABSTRACT

Women's work is central to the social and economic aspirations of the countries of South Asia. Their contribution to agriculture, industry and services is critical. However, planners and policy makers frequently ignore women's economic roles, drawing simplistic conclusions from inadequate data. Women and Work in South Asia provides a cross-cultural perspective on research on women's work in South Asia. Integrating macro and micro analysis, Asian and Western contributors analyse the inadequacies of official statistics and explore, through case studies, the cultural and socio-economic position of women at work in the region.

chapter |36 pages

Introduction

part 1|81 pages

The structure of the workforce

chapter 1|35 pages

Work in south asia

An inter-regional perspective

chapter 2|25 pages

Gender and caste inequities in workforce participation in urban india

A sociospatial interpretation

chapter 3|19 pages

Women, agriculture and the sexual division of labour

A three-state comparison

part 2|90 pages

Division of labour in household and non-household economies

part 3|28 pages

Gender ideology, power and powerlessness: empirical observations

chapter 9|13 pages

Towards increased autonomy?

Peasant women's work in the North-Central Province of Sri Lanka 1

part 4|15 pages

Epilogue

chapter 11|13 pages

In sum and looking beyond

Suggestions for future research