Introduction (Voices on South Asia)

Women as a category and South Asia as a region for analysis brings up the issue of heterogeneity vs. homogeneity HDSA, 2000). South Asian women and their status is being assessed here to highlight the similarities in the conditions faced by women despite the diversities stemming from class, religion, culture and locality. This assessment is undertaken on the basis of a select set of quantitative indicators regarding their work, survival, health, education and political participation. The issues considered here to highlight the gender inequalities that constrain women from their legitimate claims to participate in and benefit from development in South Asian countries are limited by the availability of data i , quantifiability and comparability across countries.

2012

South Asia robust economic growth has been paired with high rates of poverty and inequality in the region. In the year 2010/11, growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) accelerated to an estimated 8.7 percent. This strong growth has translated into declining poverty and impressive improvements in human development indicators. The social makeup and economic geographies of South Asia are diverse. Efforts to achieve key gender goals at the country level have proven challenging. Social norms interlock with religion, ethnicity, caste, language, and geography to promote some groups and exclude others. The organizational infrastructure has been strengthened to support the gender program of South Asia region, including hiring of a dedicated gender specialist in Pakistan in response to demand from country management. Formation of a gender advisory group for the Pakistan program is also being planned with representatives from academia, civil society, and other development partners. At the regio...

2013

Gender in South Asia: social imagination and constructed realities/Subhadra Mitra Channa. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: "Discusses gender in terms of models generalizing upon received wisdom from historical and cultural sources and lived realities"-Provided by publisher.

Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 2003

Political Science, 2019

The very construction of “South Asia” is intertwined both with its colonial past and with its intersecting politics shaped by ideologies and conflict over territory. Most of the SAARC countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Afghanistan) have been occupied by at least one colonizer or had treaties between monarchs that ended in massive uprisings, marking the birth of these independent nation-states. In the postcolonial nation-states of South Asia, gender has been used as a frame of reference and as an analytical tool to understand the collective effort in nationalist movements and nation-building as well as in articulating various forms of discrimination. Women forged an alliance on the question of subordination, both locally and regionally. Individuals outside the heteronormative world raised their voices and reclaimed their spaces within the heteropatriarchy. Heterogeneity in race, ethnicity, language, class, caste, age, and nationalities off...

Contemporary South Asia

Questions of women's power remain a matter of heated debate globally, but take on a heightened intensity in a South Asia featuring rapid economic growth and structural transformation in recent decades. This Special Issue aims to improve understanding of how the women of South Asia are gaining and exercising power and of the obstacles and backlash they face, moving beyond discussion of women's empowerment as a matter of control over domestic economic resources or labour market participation. Articles from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan examine the struggles of garments workers in global value chains, middle class professionals, subsistence farmers and wage labourers, tracing the actors, institutions, and movements that build or block women's pathways to power. Collectively, the articles argue for paid work to be treated as a critical arena for struggles over women's power, not an end in itself. They draw attention to the roles of states and patriarchal forces in building or blocking pathways to power, and to the resilient nature of gendered norms that serve patriarchy. And they highlight the need for research into women's empowerment to focus on key episodes of political contention, as critical junctures for the progressor retreatof women's empowerment.

UR Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2022

The human development index (HDI) ranking and its value indicate the development challenge in South Asia, where the region is performing impressively in terms of economic growth. However, social development is still perceived in terms of the worst scenario. The South Asian region continues the policy of socioeconomic exclusion on the basis of caste, ethnicity, religion and gender. According to the study, the international organisations and the countries of the region are following the development indicator adopted by the United Nations and its institutions. The background of South Asia is like a battleground for a cycle of conflicts; religious, ethnic, and caste conflict cause people to be economically marginalised due to these tensions. The political tension between India and Pakistan results in a constantly fragile situation. In this context, the article explores contemporary development challenges and gender inequality in South Asia.

2009

Gender in South Asia: social imagination and constructed realities/Subhadra Mitra Channa. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: "Discusses gender in terms of models generalizing upon received wisdom from historical and cultural sources and lived realities"-Provided by publisher.