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Urban Women in Contemporary India
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Urban Women in Contemporary India
A Reader

First Edition
Edited by:
June 2018 | 372 pages | SAGE India
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Since the early 1990s, feminists in India have been rallying against integrating the Indian economy into the world market, perceiving it as a phenomenon which will lead to increased feminisation of poverty and the commodification of women. This anthology explores the impact of globalisation on Indian women and the struggle for gender equality. Since urban India has taken the initial benefit and brunt of globalisation, the focus here is on urban women, particularly from the educated middle class. The two dozen essays in this book offer insights into:

- gender identity, gender relations and conceptions of women
- violence against women and conflict resolution
- women and the media
- neo-liberal globalisation, from beauty pageants to working conditions
- women and information and communication technologies
- politics and women’s political participation

‘Women`s work is never done,` said an African women`s rights activist, `Feminists’ work will never ever be done.’ This book reminds us that the road to the complete empowerment of women in India is still a long one.
 
Preface
Rehana Ghadially
INTRODUCTION
 
PART ONE: RECONSTRUCTING GENDER
Meenakshi Thapan
Adolescence, Embodiment and Gender Identity
Elite Women in a Changing Society

 
Steve Derne and Lisa Jadwin
Male Hindi Filmgoers' Gaze
An Ethnographic Interpretation of Gender Construction

 
U. Vindhya
Women as Emblems of Culture and Nation
Conceptions of the Hindu Right and the Democratic Women's Movement

 
Shamita Das Dasgupta
Gender Roles and Cultural Continuity in the Asian Indian Immigrant Community in the U.S.
 
PART TWO: VIOLENCE
Jane Rudd
Dowry-Murder
An Example of Violence against Women

 
Vimochana
When Homes are Torture Chambers
Vimochana's Work with Victims of Domestic Violence

 
Vibhuti Patel
Sexual Harassment at the Workplace
Veronica Magar
Empowerment Approaches to Gender-Based Violence
Women's Courts in Delhi Slums

 
 
PART THREE: MEDIA
Mallika Das
Men and Women in Indian Magazine Advertisements
A Preliminary Report

 
Rashmi Luthra
The Women's Movement and the Press in India
The Construction of Female Foeticide as a Social Issue

 
Srividya Ramasubramanian and Mary Beth Oliver
Portrayals of Sexual Violence in Popular Hindi Films, 1997-99
Centre for Advocacy and Research
Packaging the Contemporary Woman in Television Fiction
Deconstructing the Role of 'Commerce' and 'Tradition'

 
 
PART FOUR: NEO-LIBERAL GLOBALIZATION
Rupal Oza
Showcasing India
Gender, Geography and Globalization

 
Sharmila Rege
More than Just Tacking Women on to the 'Macro-Picture'
Feminist Contributions to Globalization Discourses

 
Rina Bhattacharya
Gender and Employment in the Context of Globalization
Some Facts and Figures

 
Gabriele Dietrich
Globalization and Women in India in the 1990s
 
PART FIVE: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
Ashima Goyal
ICT and the Technological U-Turn for Women
Anikar Haseloff and Rehana Ghadially
Gender, Cybercafes and Internet Access
Bridging the Digital Divide?

 
Farida Umrani and Rehana Ghadially
Empowering Women through ICT Education
Facilitating Computer Adoption

 
Shobha Arun, Richard Heeks and Sharon Morgan
ICT Initiatives, Women and Work
Reproducing or Changing Gender Inequalities?

 
 
PART SIX: POLITICS AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Sikata Banerjee
Gender and Nationalism
The Masculinization of Hinduism and Female Political Participation

 
Leela Kasturi
Greater Political Representation for Women
A Brief History of Events and Debates

 
Vasanthi Raman
The Women's Question in Contemporary Politics
 
Index

Urban Women in contemporary India is an insightful collection of articles which offers new and old observations of the Indian women’s movement and issues concerning Indian women…Ghadially provides a good background to the articles for the reader who has limited knowledge about the Indian women’s movement…. [the book] presents a book introduction into the complicated and thorny subject matter of Indian women to the unacquainted reader because it anticipates covering a broad spectrum of the field of women’s studies.

Journal of South Asian Development

This book is meant for those interested in women's issues, social activism, politics, sociology, psychology, ICT, and media.... The themes in this anthology seek to highlight the positions that women are placed in their struggle for gender equality, the challenges and the strategies needed to meet them.... This book is a reminder that it is still a long and uphill journey to women's empowerment in India.

Business Line

This book is the second time that Rehana Ghadially sets out to do a comprehensive anthology on women in India….The book attempts to capture the contextual realities of urban Indian women in a most comprehensive manner, while being rooted in research and analysis.

One World South Asia

This book is reminder that it is still a long and uphill journey to women’s empowerment in India

The Statesman

The reader opens up traditional feminist agendas to issues emerging out of urban women’s modern engagements with and representations in capitalist economy and communication network. The cover image showing hennaed hands of a woman operating a computer is a brilliant representation of tensions of tradition versus modernity and women’s independence versus patriarchal norms that emerge as women become global citizens.

Dawn