Across the world women constitute an integral part of the agricultural sector. This volume is based on feminist responses to farming women’s struggle for economic rights and social justice in Asia, and seeks to provide a greater understanding of the development consequences of women’s marginal, limited ownership rights to land and other productive assets. Using comprehensive analyses, quantitative and qualitative data, and case studies from India, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region, this volume brings together scholars and activists engaged with women’s unmediated entitlement to land and productive assets. While generally taking a position in favour of asset redistribution, the volume addresses two major issues: first, the conflict between legal measures and socio-cultural norms, in a context where laws that seek to secure gender equality and women’s economic empowerment are often overruled by norms that favour men; and second, how changes in the global economy in relation to traditional farming practices have adversely impacted women’s rights, especially in regions where they previously enjoyed more customary rights in asset control and management. The book draws attention to issues of economic security, gender equitable access to resources and asset-building, human rights and law, land-based livelihoods, caste and ethnic diversity, and voices in the women’s movements. This book will be useful to policy makers, civil society organisations, researchers and students of gender and women’s studies, development studies, sociology, economics and agriculture.

This report highlights that gender inequalities and women's subordination in India are caused by two formidable macro-structures: patriarchy and the exclusion of unpaid work from the macro-economy. The papers have explored pathways to break these structures gradually to achieve gender equality and empower women.

This book brings together cross-cultural perspectives on political economy of social exclusion and a critical view of policies of inclusion. The themes covered are political economy of social exclusion; inclusionary policy outcomes; persistent challenges to social exclusion and rethinking social exclusion and inclusion. The contexts are located in varied geographies including India, South East Asia, USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Papua New Guinea. The book throws light on how, historically, social inclusion of various excluded communities has always been a part of nation building with varying results. Furthermore, it highlights how the terrain of social exclusion is becoming increasingly complex today. It provides the space to reimagine issues of inclusion and exclusion within the social policy landscape of a country. It provides ways to rethink policies of inclusion such that dialogue between the excluded and the state is enhanced, and the systems of seeking justice for a dignified life, peace and freedom are improved. It appeals to policy makers, academicians and practitioners of development and social policy studies, planning and governance in both developing and developed countries.

This book explores an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of gender and development studies, disaster and land tenure policy. It is well known that women generally have weaker claims to land. But how does that translate to increased vulnerability during disaster? Using case studies from Asia, this book argues that land tenure is a key factor in mitigating the impact of disasters on women. The scale and frequency of disasters have been increasing in recent decades due to human impact on the landscape and climate. Unsustainable farming and land management systems have increased environmental risks and social vulnerabilities. However, around the world the costs of disasters are disproportionately borne by women, due largely to their reduced mobility and lack of control over assets. In post-disaster settings, women’s vulnerabilities increase due to gendered rescue and rehabilitation practices. As such, a gendered approach to land rights is critical to disaster preparedness and recovery.

This volume explores the two themes of equity in employment for Muslim women, and the identity and aspirations of Muslim youth in an age of Islamophobia in Western countries through conceptual and empirical studies of employment discrimination and alienation in the UK and the Netherlands. To these accounts are added a worldwide perspective on how women (and especially ethnic minority and Muslim women) experience, and try to overcome ethno-religious discrimination in entry to employment. The themes of Muslim women and youth struggling to survive are illustrated by accounts of teachers from Gaza who are providing ‘alternative families’ for children traumatised and orphaned through Israeli attacks. The idea of peaceful resistance, and Islamic patience in the face of persecution is developed throughout the book, and applied in a variety of settings.

This book examines gender, state and social power in Indonesia, focusing in particular on state regulation of divorce from 1965 to 2005 and its impact on women. Indonesia experienced high divorce rates in the 1950s and 1960s, followed by a remarkable decline. Already falling divorce rates were reinforced by the 1974 Marriage Law, which for the first time regulated marriage for both Muslim and non-Muslim Indonesians and restricted access to divorce. This law defined the roles of men and women in Indonesian society, vesting household leadership with husbands and the management of the household with wives. Drawing on a wide selection of primary sources, including court records, legal codes, newspaper reports, fiction, interviews and case studies, this book provides a detailed historical account of this period of important social change, exploring fully the impact and operation of state regulation of divorce, including the New Order government’s aims in enacting this legal framework, its effects in practice and how it was utilised by citizens (both men and women) to advance their own agendas. It argues that the Marriage Law was a tool of social control enacted by the New Order government in response to the social upheaval and protests experienced in the mid 1970s. However, it also shows that state power was not hegemonic: it was both contested and co-opted by citizens, with men and women enjoying different degrees of autonomy from the state. This book explores all of these issues, providing important insights on the nature of the New Order regime, social power and gender relations, both during the years of its rule and since its collapse.

This very welcome book offers important insights into the logic of development in Malaysia, as well as its impact on local struggles for land rights. Amity Doolittle has written an exemplary work that utilizes ethnography, political economy, and historical analysis. An impressive, well-written, and well-researched book. - American Anthropologist

The monograph covers the issues related to the evolution of land tenure systems, land reforms, the main features of formal land law that is in force in the various legal systems of the countries of South, East, and Southeast Asia, and customary land rights. The current state of land law in Asian countries: land rights, the provision and suspension of these rights, the relationship between formal law and customary land tenure systems, the problems of recognizing customary communal land rights are analyzed. For students, graduate students and teachers of law schools, employees of legislative, executive and judicial authorities, as well as for all those interested in issues of land, civil law and comparative jurisprudence.

This provocative book seeks to redress inaccuracies in Western perceptions of gender relations in Southeast Asia by bringing to the fore the area's ethnic and cultural variance and showing how women and men explain the informal and psychological dimensions of relationships as vital in holding family, neighbourhood and kinship ties together. Although there are differences between male and female perceptions of sex roles in society, women perceive their situation as disadvantaged rather than less significant. Male-female interpretations of power and status tend to converge usually towards the understanding that the contributions of men and women are equally important in the formation of family and society.