Women and Empowerment: Experiences from Some Asian Countries

Situation of women in the world in general and in Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal in particular, is not very satisfactory. In most of the Asian countries, the culture of patriarchy is deeply entrenched and gender biases are perpetuated by men and women as a part of the social order. There is rampant poverty, unemployment, ill health, violence, widespread exclusion and discrimination in all walks of life. Even the basic minimum needs are not being sufficiently met. The women’s access to health and education in almost all these countries is inadequate and discriminating. A complex web of cultural, social, and economic factors interact to accord the women a low status. These factors and many more intersect with rigidly defined and enforced gender roles to create a vicious circle of discrimination and deprivation. And that is possibly the reason why the Asian women are still struggling for achieving the goals of women empowerment and development. However, the efforts of these countries to ensure equality, justice and empowerment have certainly made impact towards promotion of over all quality of life of women in terms of health, education, and employment apart from ending violence against them. With this in mind, efforts have been made to compile essays from various scholars of the Asian region, who have been working on diverse issues relating to women development and empowerment. Most of these essays are an outcome of the in-depth analysis done by the authors in their fields situations. These essays elaborate upon many important theoretical and operational issues of contemporary social relevance with regard to women empowerment, health, employment, politics, violence and the girl child. Touching diverse issues relating to women, the papers also present a blue print for further intervention and development. It is hoped that Woman and Empowerment shall prove useful to the policy makers, the researchers and the social activists in helping them achieve the broader goal of women development and empowerment in the Asian region.