Themes covered include: the women`s movement in India, the legal framework, women in politics, educational intervention, women`s encounters with violence, women in the family, women`s sexuality and women`s work.
The essays selected for this volume have emerged in the context of a renewed national debate about the politics of caste inaugurated by the Mandal decision in 1989, a decision that produced a transformation of the political debates around caste and identity. It reiterated demands for social justice by dalits (lower than the lowest caste) and lower-castes that has consequently changed their politicl relationship to upper-caste elites.