ABSTRACT
Hindu South Asia seems an exception on both counts. Deities such as KälI and Durgä certainly present an image of strong, autonomous female power, and women's ritual life is widespread and highly valued. Yet while South Asia does seem to allow more access to power for privileged and educated women - India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh have all had female Prime Ministers in recent years-the general position of women in South Asian societies remains much inferior to that of men. Why is this so? That is the central question of this chapter. While the issues I am dealing with are generaiones, the chapter comes out of an ongoing joint research project with my wife, Santi Rozario, in which we are looking at issues to du with women, health and religion in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, and I will be using some of Santi's ethnography from Nepal.
