This book investigates the contemporary social, political and economic issues faced by women in South Asia. It focuses on the policies and practices that have challenged or perpetuated gender inequalities, and the evolving role of women in South Asian societies. With contributions from practitioners, policy makers, academics and civil society activists from across South Asia, this volume provides a broad and diverse range of viewpoints on South Asian women's labour force participation, political participation, education, and health, as well as country-specific insights.The volume is conceived as a stage for debate where specific insights act as a window into wider themes, practices and policies. Each essay is followed by policy-relevant recommendations and suggestions for avenues to improve current practice. This book will be relevant for undergraduate students and lecturers of South Asian studies, development, and policy studies, as well as industry practitioners.

This book explores the possibilities of understanding the concept of climate refugees in order to ascribe to a consensual agreement that climate refugees are evident and this situation is a reality. A framework to study both empirically and theoretically is presented in a detailed manner so that it may become a resource for understanding the challenges of climate refugees. Through discussion and analysis the book presents potential answers to such questions as: ● Why has the international system been so short-sighted and has not given importance to the problems of climate migrants and refugees? ● How to identify a climate refugee? ● How do you justify a climate refugee or a migrant? ● What are internally displaced people? Should we call them just refugees? The book covers the interdisciplinary nature of climate refugees and the perspectives of social science. The empirical findings provides an edge to holistically understanding climate refugees. This book discusses the concept of, what really is a climate refugee, and the necessary factors to make it an important part of the climate discourse. The legality of the term is missing in international parlance, and the academic discourse should provide the necessary critique required for the evolution of the subject under study. Therefore, the major objective of the book is to make the subject of climate migration known to all.

Village Ties argues that grassroots women's mobilization programs can empower poor women to challenge oppressive informal institutions - the rules of the game - that govern relationships between actors in the rural global South. By exploring the activities of women who belong to Polli Shomaj, an initiative of the development organization BRAC, Village Ties challenges stereotypes of poor Muslim women as backward, subservient, oppressed, and in need of saving.

Organizations worldwide have introduced equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) policies to address the inherent disadvantages experienced by employees with diverse social identities in different national contexts. EDI policies are present to address the inherent disadvantages and inequalities experienced by a diverse workforce. The Handbook of Research on Exploring Gender Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Through an Intersectional Lens reports on current challenges that organizations face in terms of gender diversity management and provides crucial research on the application of strategies designed to increase organizational change and support and integrate diverse individuals, including physically disabled individuals, women, and people of color, into organizations. Covering key topics such as mental health, tolerance, and a sustainable workforce, this major reference work is ideal for managers, business owners, administrators, government officials, policymakers, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

“Schooled for the future?” offers an ethnographically rich account about squatter families in Kathmandu and their struggles to improve their living conditions and create a better future through education. Examining how people – children and adults - experience and respond to policy initiatives aimed at improving their life the book discusses the paradoxes inherent in modern schooling. Firstly, schooling promises social justice and equal opportunities, yet it also contributes to the reproduction of social inequalities by strengthening existing class divisions and by producing a new category of unschooled people. Secondly, within the context of the family, schooling is attributed an economic and symbolic value, but it is also considered a potential threat to family values based on generational hierarchy and caste identity. Through detailed ethnographic accounts the author demonstrates how urban poor families experience the schooling process ambivalently, both as a source of alienation and inferiority as well as a source of self-esteem and sense of progress. Acknowledging the interconnect-edness between global, national and local forces framing and informing processes of education the book, thus, sheds light on the complex relationship between educational policy and everyday life experiences of the urban poor in Kathmandu, a hitherto understudied segment of the Nepalese society.

This book provides a set of fresh and compelling interdisciplinary approaches to the enduring phenomenon of the guru in South Asia. Moving across different gurus and kinds of gurus, and between past and present, the chapters call attention to the extraordinary scope and richness of the social lives and roles of South Asian gurus. Prevailing scholarship has rightly considered the guru to be a source of religious and philosophical knowledge and mystical bodily practices. This book goes further and considers the social engagements and entanglements of these spiritual leaders, not just on their own (narrowly denominational) terms, but in terms of their diverse, complex, rapidly evolving engagements with ‘society’ broadly conceived. The book explores and illuminates the significance of female gurus, gurus from the perspective of Islam, imbrications of guru-ship and slavery in pre-modern India, connections between gurus and power, governance and economic liberalization in modern and contemporary India, vexed questions of sexuality and guru-ship, gurus’ charitable endeavours, the cosmopolitanism of gurus in contexts of spiritual tourism, and the mediation of gurus via technologies of electronic communication. Bringing together internationally renowned scholars from religious studies, political science, history, sociology and anthropology, The Guru in South Asia provides exciting and original new insights into South Asian guru-ship. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book examines the state of art in disability studies, focusing on the Indian context, as well as the broader South Asian situation. It presents interdisciplinary perspectives on the basic idea, evolution, practices and challenges of researching and teaching disability studies at various higher education institutions and in other civil society spaces. The chapters address a range of related themes, including activism, development policies, research, pedagogy, spatial and social access, caste and gender representations and rights-based discourses. Given the scope of its coverage, the book is of interest to scholars and students in area of humanities, education, law, sociology and social work, political science development and disability studies.

This book offers a unique focus on the well-being of Chinese and South/Southeast Asian students in the context of Hong Kong, and in particular the experience of integrating these young people into its schooling system. Yuen uses a narrative method that captures and offers a vivid insight into the actual experience of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, whilst providing fascinating comparisons between students coming from Mainland China and those whose parents are South/Southeast Asian immigrants. Readers will be particularly interested in the attention given to spiritual well-being and how religious participation and affiliation make a difference in giving meaning to life and in creating a positive mindset, as viewed and explained by students themselves. This well-organised volume begins by laying out the major themes relating to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, followed by a richly elaborated theoretical chapter which defines core concepts and their interconnection. This is followed by substantive chapters where the voices of each of the different diverse groupings of students, Chinese Mainland immigrants, Chinese Cross-boundary youth, South/Southeast Asian ethnic youth and mainstream HK youth from underprivileged backgrounds, are heard and interpreted in relation to themes of inclusion and well-being. It then builds upon the narratives to provide bottom-up solutions and pathways towards the inclusion and well-being of all students, as well as the professional development of teachers who can take up the challenge of ensuring that all young people are nurtured to fulfil their potential. Providing readers with practical implications and takeaways for education practice, this must-read work will appeal to a wide range of education practitioners and students involved in providing or researching inclusive education relating to mainstream and non-mainstream Chinese, South Asian, and other ethnic minority students.

Inclusion has recently become a high priority issue within the development sector, brought to the fore by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development's commitment to leave no one behind. Practices within the remit of inclusion often focus on increasing access and meaningful participation, with emphasis placed on bringing those at the margins to the centre. Theologies and Practices of Inclusion challenges such centre-focused practices from a global perspective, based on research conducted within the Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation Tearfund and beyond. Offering inspiration for practitioners within the sector and faith-based organisations in particular, as well as an academic contribution to the fields of international development studies and theology, the book aims to bridge theology and practice in an accessible way. Consisting of 13 chapters and case studies, this book draws on the wisdom of a diverse team of contributors at the forefront of international development, working in a variety of contexts. These include South Africa, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Ecuador, Panama, Bolivia, the Philippines, Iraq, Egypt and the UK. Highlighting ‘journey’, ‘change’ and ‘belonging’ as three key aspects of inclusion, the book explores the outworking of theologies of inclusion within organisational practice. With a foreword by Ruth Valerio, and an afterword by Catriona Dejean.