Characterized by high levels of female literacy and life expectancy for women, the state of Kerala has been hailed as the epitome of gender development in India. Yet disquieting evidence on widespread sex selective abortions, soaring dowry demands and high rates of crime and domestic violence against women makes it imperative that a fresh look be taken at the problem of gender relations in Kerala. The Enigma of the Kerala Woman: A Failed Promise of Literacy consists of multi-disciplinary research carried out on various aspects of gender relations in Kerala by scholars from a range of social science disciplines under The Gender Network, a regional network of researchers investigating the phenomenon of gender under varied social and economic settings. The introductory chapter provides an overarching framework for the individual studies. Breaking new ground in analytical and methodological dimensions of Women’s Studies, the papers collectively seek to provide an answer to the ‘enigma’ of the Kerala woman. The book has a rich body of data which provides comparative figures relating to development indices for Kerala in relation to some other states as well as India as a whole. The book comes alive through two separate sections. The first one is devoted to case studies of women from the area of research and the second to photographs of Kerala women in various social settings with detailed anthropological captions. The two sections complement each other in supporting the main theme of the book.
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