swapna mukhopadhyay and m ratna sudarshan eds tracking gender equity under economic reforms continuity and change in south asia

Abstract

Swapna Mukhopadhyay, and M. Ratna Sudarshan (eds). Tracking Gender Equity under Economic Reforms; Continuity and Change in South Asia. New Delhi: Kali for Women and International Development Research Centre, 2003. 388 pages. Hardbound. Indian Rs 400.00 This book is based on research supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, for an inter-country comparison between Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It is a condensation of coordinated household surveys carried out in the households of women workers in Export Processing Zones and Export-oriented Units in the above-mentioned countries. As widely understood, unlike “sex”, which is biological, “gender” is a socially- constructed category. “Gender” becomes an unobservable variable in the language of econometrics due to the large range of its manifestations. The research here has adopted an innovative approach of using some of the overt manifestations of “gender” to capture the impact of changes in economic policy initiatives on gender relations in society and at the workplace. More emphasis, however, is laid on gender relations in society as these are played out mainly in the arena of the household and the community, and to a lesser extent in the workplace. The research concludes that the process of economic reforms has been instrumental in changing the external environment of households affected by them in one manner or another, and may have done it at a pace faster than anything seen before. This, in turn, has brought about changes in the manner in which different members of the households perceive and adjust to the new situations. The authors (Mridul Eapen, Swarna Jayaweera, R. L. Kapur, Praveena Kodoth, Swapna Mukhopadhyay, N. Sangeeta, Manju Senapaty, Rehana Siddiqui, Shahnaz Hamid, Rizwana Siddiqui, Naeem Akhter, Anushree Sinha, Shobna Sonpar, Ratna M. Sudarshan, and Salma Chaudhuri Zohir), however, feel that with more and more women being exposed to the external world, through schooling and the labour market, it is possible that subtle changes are indeed taking place in the patriarchical society. A new era of gender equality may be ushered in through the questioning of traditional gender equations by women themselves.