Speaking Out: Women’s Economic Empowerment in South Asia

"Throughout South Asia, women have been organizing to gain access to credit, training, technologies and other inputs required for creating successful enterprises. In the process, they have increased not only their earning capacities but have overcome many barriers to women’s participation in economic development. This book documents the experiences of seven NGOs in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka who have been successfully working with rural and urban poor women to evolve strategies for bringing about women’s empowerment. Going beyond the normal descriptive accounts, the case studies provide a wealth of new insights on how changes are occurring at the grassroots level. The contributors draw lessons from these vivid first-hand experiences to show how women are gaining increased access to and control over economic resources and how this, in turn, has led to far-reaching socio-cultural and political changes at the level of the individual, family, community and the market place. They also show how women are building organizations which are becoming ever more autonomous and self-reliant. Overall, this book provides ample evidence that women’s empowerment is actually taking place on a significant scale in South Asia and that this is having a noticeable impact on levels of poverty and well-being. It constitutes an invaluable resource for students of development and women’s studies and for development planners, grassroots workers and women’s organizations."