Faith-based development organizations have become a central part of the lives of the women of rural Rajasthan, and have come to represent an important aspect of both individual and collective identities. And yet, religious teachings continue to be used to exclude women from public decision making forums and render them vulnerable to increasing levels of domestic violence. In a unique multi-disciplinary approach, combining a range of subjects, particularly gender studies, Bradley provides a unique study of the contradictory and complex role of development organisations and faith organizations in the lives of women in rural Rajasthan. This book will be of interest to students, reseachers and policy makers involved in various fields, including those of Development Studies, Religion, Gender Studies and Social Anthropology. Table of contents Introduction PART I: MAINSTREAMING RELIGION AND GENDER IN DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Reviewing the Links between Religion, Gender and Development Chapter 2: Understanding Global Development through Religion and Gender Chapter 3: Gender, Mothering and Development: Case Studies of Three Hindu Trans-national Movements PART II: FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS AND DIALOGUES IN DEVELOPMENT Chapter 4: What is a Faith-Based Organization? Chapter 5: Can Compassion bring Results? Reflections on the Work of an Intermediary Faith-Based Organization. Chapter 6: Competing Visions of Development: The Story of a Faith-Based Partnership. Chapter 7: Gender, Gandhi and Community Organizations PART III: RELIGION AS A RESOURCE Chapter 8: Physical Religious Spaces in the Lives of Rajasthani Village Women: The Ethnographic Study and Practice of Religion in Development. Chapter 9: Positioning Religion in Research and Activism to End Domestic Violence in Rajasthan Chapter 10: Puja as One Dimension of a Sensitive, Relational Approach to Community Health Care Provision. Conclusion