This book explores the critical linkages between education and empowerment of women, marginalized groups and other disadvantaged sections of society. It: Provides an overview of educational policies and practices from India’s independence to the present day, and tracks relevant changes and amendments. Examines a range of issues connected with education such as the Right to Education Act; empowerment and community mobilization; higher education challenges and other emerging topics. Brings together both theoretical postulates and empirical findings.
This book studies the various dimensions of gender inequality that persist in higher education and employment in India. It presents an in-depth analysis of the complex challenges women face in higher education participation and in translating higher education opportunities into labour market success and into leadership positions, including in academia. It argues that despite substantial progress towards gender equality in enrolment, these inequalities act as barriers to realising the transformative role that higher education can have for women’s well-being and for the nation’s development. The volume looks at the issues that keep women from accessing the areas of their choice, and the challenges they face in leadership positions in higher education. An important critique of higher education policy and planning, the volume will be of interest to teachers, students and researchers of education, public policy, political science and international relations, economics, feminism, women’s studies, gender studies, law and sociology. It will also be useful for academicians, policymakers and anyone interested in the study of gender in Indian Higher Education.
The book begins with the momentous task of demolishing the prejudices attached with the phrase 'founding fathers' that has held an immense sway over constitutional interpretation. It shows that women members of the Indian Constituent Assembly had painstakingly co-authored a Constitution that embodied a moral imagination developed by years of feminist politics. It traces the genealogies of several constitutional provisions to argue that, without the interventions of these women framers, the Constitution would hardly have a much poorer document of rights and statecraft that it is. Situating these interventions in the larger trajectory of Indian feminism in which they are rooted, in the nationalist discourse with which they perpetually negotiated, and in the larger human rights discourse of the 1940s, the book shows that the women members of the Indian Constituent Assembly were much more than the 'founding mothers' of a republic.
Since the early 1980s Ecuador has experienced a series of events unparalleled in its history. Its “free market” strategies exacerbated the debt crisis, and in response new forms of social movement organizing arose among the country’s poor, including women’s groups. Gendered Paradoxes focuses on women’s participation in the political and economic restructuring process of the past twenty-five years, showing how in their daily struggle for survival Ecuadorian women have both reinforced and embraced the neoliberal model yet also challenged its exclusionary nature. Drawing on her extensive ethnographic fieldwork and employing an approach combining political economy and cultural politics, Amy Lind charts the growth of several strands of women’s activism and identifies how they have helped redefine, often in contradictory ways, the real and imagined boundaries of neoliberal development discourse and practice. In her analysis of this ambivalent and “unfinished” cultural project of modernity in the Andes, she examines state policies and their effects on women of various social sectors; women’s community development initiatives and responses to the debt crisis; and the roles played by feminist “issue networks” in reshaping national and international policy agendas in Ecuador and in developing a transnationally influenced, locally based feminist movement.
This open access book offers pioneering insights and practical methods for promoting diversity and inclusion in higher education classrooms and curricula. It highlights the growing importance of international education programs in Asia and the value of understanding student diversity in a changing, evermore interconnected world. The book explores diversity across physical, psychological and cogitative traits, socio-economic backgrounds, value systems, traditions and emerging identities, as well as diverse expectations around teaching, grading, and assessment. Chapters detail significant trends in active learning pedagogy, writing programs, language acquisition, and implications for teaching in the liberal arts, adult learners, girls and women, and Confucian heritage communities. A quality, relevant, 21st Century education should address multifaceted and intersecting forms of diversity to equip students for deep life-long learning inside and outside the classroom. This timely volume provides a unique toolkit for educators, policy-makers, and professional development experts.
Both nationally and internationally, the south Indian state of Kerala has been an object of study for its matrilineal kinship organization among some communities, as well as its achievements in education, literacy, and life expectancy for women against a weak economic base. Nonetheless, scholars have drawn attention to a paradox in Kerala’s model of development, namely women’s deteriorating social position in Kerala and the rise in violence against women. Against this backdrop, this book explores the intersections of gender, sexuality, marriage, family and kinship as related to the matrilineal Nayar community in Kerala. Chapters unravel the interplay between the triple categories of gender, power and social development as they play out at the micro, meso, and macro levels of society, probing the ways in which Nayar women practice agency. Ultimately, the authors explore how the strength of the Nayar community can be used as a case study toward circumventing the prevailing gender paradox and re-imagine a more liberated, empowered and self-reliant woman not only in Kerala, but in India at large. This book will be of interest to scholars in sociology, gender studies, and development studies, particularly those with a focus on South Asia.
This handbook critically examines the three concepts of exclusion, inequality and stigma and their interrelationship in the Indian context. Divided into five parts, the volume deals with the issues of exclusion, inequality, gender discrimination, health and disability, and assault and violence. It discusses important topical themes such as caste and social exclusion in rural labour markets, impact of poverty and unemployment, discrimination in education and literacy, income inequality and financial inclusion, social security of street vendors, women social entrepreneurs, rural–urban digital divide, workplace inequality, women trafficking, acid attacks, inter-caste marriages, honour killings, health care and sanitation, discrimination faced by those with disabilities, and regional disparities in India. The book traces rising socio-economic inequality and discrimination along with the severe lack of access to resources and opportunities, redressal instruments, legal provisions and implementation challenges, while also looking at deep-rooted causes responsible for their persistence in society. With emphasis on affirmative action, systemic mechanisms, and the role of state and citizens in bridging gaps, the volume presents several policies and strategies for development. It combines wide-ranging empirical case studies backed by relevant theoretical frameworks to map out a new agenda for research on socio-economic inequality in India with important implications for public policy. Comprehensive and first of its kind, this handbook will serve as a key reference to scholars, researchers and teachers of exclusion and discrimination studies, social justice, political economy, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, development studies, education and public administration. It will also be useful to policymakers, bureaucrats, civil society activists, non-governmental organisations and social entrepreneurs in the development sector, in addition to those interested in third world studies, developing economies and the global south.
This timely volume brings together a range of international scholars to analyse cultural, political, and individual factors which contribute to the continued global issue of female underrepresentation in STEM study and careers. Offering a comparative approach to examining gender equity in STEM fields across countries including the UK, Germany, the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Africa, and China, the volume provides a thematic breakdown of institutional trends and national policies that have successfully improved gender equity in STEM at institutions of higher education. Offering case studies that demonstrate how policies interact with changing social and cultural norms, and impact women’s choices and experiences in relation to the uptake and continuation of STEM study at the undergraduate level, the volume highlights new directions for research and policy to promote gender equity in STEM at school, university, and career levels. Contributing to the United Nations’ (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in science education, higher education, and gender equity in STEM fields. The text will also support further discussion and reflection around multicultural education, educational policy and politics, and the sociology of education more broadly.