Gender inequality is pervasive worldwide and remains entrenched at various levels from intimate private realm to the highest level of public arena. Although, past decades have seen change and progress, the change has been uneven, incremental and hugely inadequate. Underneath questions of persistent inequality, subordination and exclusion of women, is the question of power and the dynamics of power imbalances disfavouring women. It is the question of power, coupled with ideology and its modus operandi in multiple forms of patriarchy. At this significant juncture in history, when we are looking forward to the ‘2030 agenda’ visualizing the final blow to gender inequality globally, it is an opportune time to have a relook at the issues involved and measures undertaken, including achievements and failures, challenges and possibilities. In a contextualized frame, the present book attempts a nuanced understanding of the issues involved. Delineating conceptual/theoretical dimensions of exclusion of women from power, entitlements and justice, the book explores the multiple facets of gender inequality vis-á-vis the state and its institutions, the vulnerability of women, dilemmas of identity, rootlessness and disempowerment and also the interlinkages between the local and the global, including pro-active role of the UN. The book will be a valuable resource for researchers, teachers, students, civil society activists and gender policy planners. CONTENTS Introduction: Contextualizing the Issue / Asha Kaushik Part I: Conceptual Concerns 1 Power and Exclusion of Women: A Theoretical Perspective / Asha Kaushik 2 Women Empowerment: Emerging Issues and Challenges / Ameer Sultana 3 Empowerment of Women: A Study of Gender Justice Perspectives in Political Philosophy / Rahul Chaudhary Part II: Institutional Ramifications: Potential and Limits 4 Achieving Gender Equality in India / Devendra Kothari 5 Economic Development and Women Empowerment: A Bi-directional Relationship / Vijay Vir Singh and Madhu Pundir 6 Political Participation of Women in India: Trends, Challenges and Prospects / Shashi Upadhyay 7 Judiciary and the Question of Gender Equality / Navneet Kumar Verma 8 Empowerment of Elected Women Representatives in Panchayati Raj Institutions: Case Studies of Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh / Ritu Bakshi and Rita Arora Part III: The Vulnerable Substrata and Power Dynamics 9 Women’s Agency, Activism and Education in Rajputana States: Case of the Erstwhile Mewar State / Pratibha Jain and Sangeeta Sharma 10 Women’s Empowerment: The Paradox of India’s Disappearing Daughters / Meeta Singh 11 Women Empowerment and Muslim Women in India / Zenab Banu 12 Rooted Patriarchies and Rootlessness of Women: A Few Cases of ‘Honour Killings’ / Manjeet Bhatia 13 Women: Victim of Ongoing Violence in Jammu & Kashmir / Suman 14 Women and Conflict: Media’s Blind Spot / Urvashi Dev Rawal Part IV: Betwixt Global and the Local: India and the UN 15 Gender and Human Security in South Asia: India on a Comparative Scale / Surendra Nath Kaushik 16 Turning the Gloomy into the Glorious: The Success Story of Polio Eradication in India and the Role of Women – An Overview of the United Nations Perspective / Ashlesha Kaushik and Sandeep Gupta 17 Gender Equality and Women Empowerment: MDGs to SDGs – Transition to the Post-development Agenda / Prerna Puri 18 Implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) in India / Seema Thakur ABOUT THE AUTHOR / EDITOR Asha Kaushik is Professor of Political Science, former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Director, Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. She has taught Political Science for four decades. Her specialization includes political theory, gender studies, Gandhian thought, Indian politics, cultural studies and development studies. She has published eleven books, with more than 300 international library holdings and over five dozen research papers in national and international journals.