DEVELOPMENT, GLOBALIZATION AND WOMEN

The dominant development model, primarily conceived as a West-centric enterprise to modernize the post-colonial societies, did not realize the promised utopia of improved quality of life for all. Instead, increased poverty, economic and gender inequalities and degradation of environment have emerged as the accompanying fallouts of development policies and practices during the past half century.
With this as a backdrop, the book relooks at development, particularly globalization-driven neo-liberal development, through a gender lens. Raising some basic theoretical and ideological questions, the essays address issues like economic and political empowerment, state-market-civil society interface, MDGs, challenges emanating from the socio-cultural structures/norms, gender-blind/neutral state policies, violence/armed conflicts and the sustainability of environment.
The book will be valuable for researchers, teachers, students, civil society activists and policy planners engaged in framing development policies and practices.

Asha Kaushik is Professor of Political Science and former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. She has taught Political Science for four decades. Her specialization is in the fields of political theory, gender studies, critical theory, Gandhian thought, Indian politics and development studies. She has published ten books and over five dozen research papers in national and international journals.