Women in Social Change: Visions, Struggles and Persisting Concerns captures the evolution of key debates on women’s rights in independent India. Authored by eminent scholars and emerging experts of their time, the articles encapsulate developments which have given the women’s rights movement and women’s studies imaginative new models. They also indicate fundamental concerns that have endured over decades. The articles have been grouped into categories that cover diverse themes such as the conceptualization of women’s rights and laws pertaining to the same, changing notions of women as workers, women’s political participation and cultural representation, and, finally, the impediments, roadblocks and violence experienced by women. The editor’s introductions provide critical historical context for the juridico-political paradoxes and internal contradictions that confront the women’s rights movement today. The sectional introductions place each article in a larger context, pointing out the importance of their approach, methodology and salient arguments. The series ‘Social Change in Contemporary India’ brings together key texts published in the prestigious journal Social Change, from 1971 till present times. These writings, most of which are considered canonical, address important issues in health, education, poverty and agriculture, with special focus on the disadvantaged groups. The essays will help readers identify key points in the history of policymaking in India and major discourses and debates and their impact. Contents: About the Series Foreword by Manoranjan Mohanty Shifting Frames in the Women’s Rights Discourse in India: A Critical Reading by Ghazala Jamil SECTION I Women’s Rights Movement Sectional Introduction Devaki Jain Indian Women: Some Reflections on a Two Sector Analysis Mina Swaminathan And Miles to Go Vina Mazumdar Globalization of the Family: The Politics of Population Control Maithreyi Krishnaraj The Women’s Movement in India: A Hundred-year History SECTION II Women as Workers Sectional Introduction National Development and Women Workers Maniben Kara Women’s Employment in the Urban Informal Sector: Some Critical Issues Anita Dighe Female Workforce: Its Contribution to Metropolitan Economy Sanghmitra Acharya SECTION III Political Participation Sectional Introduction Usha Mehta Indian Women and Their Participation in Politics Farah Naqvi Of Women, Politics and Panchayats Sanjay Kumar and Praveen Rai Gendered Political Exclusion: Crucial Implications for Indian Democracy SECTION IV Culture and Identity Sectional Introduction Uma Chakravarti and Kumkum Roy The Family in Ancient India: Ideal and Reality Sujata Mukherjee The Female Character in Indian Moving Images Vivek Kumar Locating Dalit Women in the Indian Caste System, Media and Women’s Movement SECTION V Law and Violence Sectional Introduction Durgabai Deshmukh Law and Women in India Nandini Rai Geographies of Indian women: A Tale of Contesting Spaces Amit Ranjan A Gender Critique of AFSPA: Security for Whom? Flavia Agnes Has the Codified Hindu Law Changed Gender Relationships? Index