Administration for Empowerment and Welfare of Women

Contents: Series editor's introduction/Rakesh Hooja. Volume editors' introduction/Abha Jain and Shalini Shekhawat. I. Facets of women's empowerment: 1. Some thoughts on women's empowerment: challenges ahead/I.C. Srivastava. 2. Political empowerment of women in local government institutions : the case of Jaipur Municipal Corporation/Ashok Sharma. 3. Women in Panchayati Raj Institutions: beginning of a new era/Pawan Kumar Banta. II. An overview of women's development: 4. The National perspective plan for women's development (1988-2000 AD)/Nandini Azad. 5. Some strategies for women's development/Malovika Pawar. 6. Research and women's development: seeds of change (a case study of the ICSSR programme of women's studies/Vina Mazumdar. 7. Development strategies for women/Maithreyi Krishna Raj. 8. Women's development programme: some insights into participatory evaluation/Anita Dighe and Sharda Jain. III. Status of women : Some perceptions: 9. Status of women in India, policy planning and the implementation machinery : some crucial issues/Sudhir Varma. 10. The status of women in Rajasthan: a situational review/Malovika Pawar. 11. Gender disparity and women's autonomy/Aparna Sahay. 12. Gender inequality : a theoretical construct/Narendra K. Singh. 13. Imbalanced sex ratio: India's Dilemma with abortion laws and discrimination against the girl child/Nidhi Gupta. 14. Women and economic activities/Kanta Ahuja.15. Land relations and women/Anita. 16. Legal status of women in India/B.P. Beri. IV. Media perspective on women, development and empowerment: 17. Women development and media/Kamla Bhasin. 18. Women development and mass media/Rami Chaabra. V. Insights into education for women's empowerment: 19. Issues in women education and training/M.L. Mehta. 20. An economic frame for female education and health development/B.B.L. Sharma. 21. Women's literacy for domestication or empowerment/Kamla Bhasin.

"Administration for the empowerment and welfare of women implies a difference in approach and perspective as compared to the traditional system of administration, which was of a regulatory nature. It calls for administrative measures that cater to both the material and non material needs of women. Women are not a homogeneous category and hence the empowerment and welfare needs and priorities of different groups of women will be different. It is, therefore, imperative to integrate in the system, the values, which inculcate respect for women, their roles, responsibilities and recognize their contribution in society. It can broadly be seen as a process that enables women to collectively have access to and control over institutions that affects their lives. The present volume makes an attempt to correlate, analyse and provide an understanding and perspective to the diversity of thought on measures for the empowerment and welfare of women in India.

All articles in this anthology explore the subject differently and expose a unique viewpoint that has rendered an enhanced understanding of the subject. It has also brought to light the fact that women not only need to occupy and partner more spaces in the political, social, economic and other decision making arenas, but that these spaces should be more meaningful." (jacket)