Contents: Introduction. 1. Aspects of methodology in women’s history. 2. Women and literature. 3. Contemporary debates in feminist theory and practice. 4. Beyond WID and GAD empowering the instrument. 5. Feminist legal research. Index.

"Women’s studies have increasingly attained a multidisciplinary character the world over. Each discipline contributed to the growing body of research on women. Feminist thought and practice on the other hand enriched enquiry and research into areas hitherto unexplored by the various disciplines. This dynamism was however not reflected in much of the development literature which incorporated gender concerns. In Bangladesh this was even more so. Methodologically women as a category have been treated in an isolated way and not in the context of broader social processes. Little attention has been paid to questions of structure and agency as well as variations in class and ethnicity.

"It is with the view to fill this gap that feminist scholars from various disciplines have contributed towards this anthology hoping to introduce and inform both future researchers as well as development activists of the various perspectives and dimensions being developed or addressed in disciplines such as history, literature, feminist thought and practice, legal theory and practice and finally, the development discourse. Special attention is paid to relate these perspectives to the Bangladesh situation." (jacket)