Democracy in the Family: Insights from India

Joy Deshmukh-Ranadive is Senior Fellow at the Centre for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi. She incorporates a multidisciplinary approach to theorizing issues in gender studies, and following her Ph.D. dissertation-which was on 'Power in Economics: A study of Classical and Neoclassical Thought'-in the mid-1980s, she has remained interested in the concept of power. Her book, Space for Power, Women's Work and Family Strategies, presents a conceptual framework for analysing power and empowerment in the context of gender. Another area of her interest is human rights, and Dr. Deshmukh-Ranadive has worked on issues related to the Human Right to Food and the Right to Housing, besides writing concepts papers that deconstruct the meanings of these rights and conducting workshops and training on economic, social and cultural human rights. Dr. Deshmukh-Ranadive has done considerable work on micro-credit and self-help groups in India, particularly in the state of Andhra Pradesh, as also worked on issues of structural adjustment and globalization.