Understanding Women's Empowerment in South Asia

Asok Kumar Sarkar is Professor of Social Work in Visva-Bharati, India, and Chairperson of the International Consortium for Social Development-Asia Pacific Branch (ICSDAP). His publications include NGOs-The New Lexicon of Health Care (2005), NGOs and Globalization (Edited, 2008), Human Development and Sustainability: Challenges and Strategies (Co-Edited, 2017), Welfare of Disadvantaged: Exploring Community Development Approach (Co-Edited, 2018), and Contextualizing Peace-Experiences of Contemporary India and Neighbouring Countries (Co-Edited, 2021). He is the founding editor of “Journal of Social Work and Social Development,” a UGC-CARE-listed Indian journal, and served from 2010 to 2017. Satyajit Das Gupta is Director, Post-Graduate Diploma Course in Counselling (Affiliated to the Calcutta University), Legal Aid Services, West Bengal, and Member, Ethics Committee, KolGO Trg, a conglomerate of several regional and national medical institutions and establishments. He has been associated with the Calcutta University’s Women’s Studies Research Centre, Netaji Subhas Open University, West Bengal, and the Women’s Justice Initiative of the Human Rights Law Network, India. He also coordinated the Karachi-Calcutta-Dhaka Linkage Project on “Processes of Unprotected Work in South Asia for the International Institute of Social History,” Amsterdam. His publications include Mukher Kathay Itihas [History by Words of Mouth, Edited, 1997 & 2019] and Final Report on the DFLFLASWEB-DIHR Study Tour on Comparative Aspects of Public Interest Litigation in India and China (2012).  

1 Introduction.- 2 Before NGOs: Women's Organizations in Colonial India.- 3 Politics of Women's Empowerment and Non-Governmental Organizations.- 4 NGO Activism and Women's Empowerment in India.- 5 Women’s Participation in Rural Local Governance of Bangladesh: Progress and Challenges.- 6 Reproductive Health of Women and Human Development in Nepal.- 7 Role of Microfinance in Empowering Woman Entrepreneurs in Rural Sri Lanka.- 8 Lives in Neglect, Deceit and Violence: Voices and Agencies of Trafficked Women.- 9 Multiplying Insecurity: Disempowerment of Women's Agency in the Logistics of Transnational Trafficking Networks of South Asia.- 10 Equalizing Gender Imbalance in a Globalized World.