ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on concepts discussed in preceding chapters of this book. The book presents cross-national and comparative research on the gendered outcomes of economic change broadly defined—not limited to economic crisis—and on related social and political change. It also presents a process of economic change that is unyieldingly capitalist and linked to privatization and marketization. The book reveals that women's overall empowerment relative to men is multidimensional, complex, and conditional and varies markedly across space and time. It shows how gender is socially constructed via men's and women's productive and reproductive activities. The book suggests that women's potential power—be it economic, political, or personal-familial—is highest in circumstances where new, nontraditional opportunities arise than in settings where women are included in or are integrated into traditional forms of production, reproduction, and politics.
