As women from many walks of life now consciously struggle with the inequitable burdens they bear in relation to their livelihood and their political life, these burdens are increasingly viewed as being imposed on them by systems that support their subordination. A vigorous literature has developed on gender from a political-economic perspective, representing a global attempt to understand social transformations of gender derived from colonialism, the development of world economies, and the historical coalescence of a world economic system. The volume contributes to these global discussions from within a framework which focuses on the region of South Asia, with its own particularities, traditions, and historical roots.