Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents a set of gendered histories of global and transnational networks. Clare Midgley presents a case study of Pandita Ramabai, a pioneering nineteenth-century Indian feminist who sought to position herself beyond the authority of formal western-dominated Christian missionary networks through her involvement in an informal transnational and cross-cultural network of liberal religious activists. The book examines how the formulation of international labour standards by the International Labour Organization in the interwar period pivoted around the question of the status of women's unpaid work for family and community. It explores debates the context of the intersections between culturally specific gender inequalities and globally racialized inequalities, and she explores the role played by women's organisations in these policy debates. The book analyses the intersection of gender, race and/or national identities, thus building on the intersectional exploration of female agency and feminist postcolonial theory.