Amidst the unevenness and unpredictability of change in the Asia-Pacific region, women's lives are being transformed. This volume takes up the challenge of exploring the ways in which women are active players, collaborators, participants, leaders and resistors in the politics of change in the region. The contributors argue that 'gender' matters, and continues to make a difference in the midst of change, even as it is intertwined with questions of tradition, generation, ethnicity and nationalism. Drawing on current dialogue among feminism, cultural politics and geography, the book focuses on women's agencies and activisms, insisting on women's strategic conduct in constructing their own multiple identities and navigation of their life paths. The editors focus attention on the politics of gender as a mobilizing centre for identities, and the ways in which individualized identity politics may be linked to larger collective emancipatory projects based on shared interests, practical needs, or common threats.
Collectively, the chapters illustrate the complexity of women's strategies, the diversity of sites for action, and the flexibility of their alliances as they carve out niches for themselves in what are still largely patriarchal worlds. This book will be of vital interest to scholars in a range of subjects, including gender studies, human geography, women's studies, Asian studies, sociology and anthropology.