ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes stories and narratives of walled-village women from the two villages, and garnering perspectives from married-in urban women and urban migrant women living in the walled-village. It highlights the gender dynamics across the distinctive spectrums of the walled villages starting from the village council meetings. The chapter examines their ritual and social activities, as well as individual households and individuals’ daily conduct, social activities and women’s strategies in dealing with their spouses. It argues that gender dynamics work differently and are contested across different spectrums. These dynamics vary in different villages, even though male villagers are generally dominant from the communal to the macro-level. The chapter discusses the changes in gender dynamics are the result of the blurring of the rural/urban divide rather than a change in the inheritance law. It describes how generational differences reflect the changes within the community with reference to the gender dynamics of women/daughters; mothers-in-law/daughters-in-law and men’s and women’s relationships across different generations.
