Discusses women in the Hindu, Christian, and Muslim communities. Provides details of the functioning of women's movements. Some chapters provide background including the impact of the West on women's issues in the Social Reform Movement of the 19th century.

The sociologist Mangala Subramanian researched the women's movement in India since the 1970s in the context of globalization with attention to class, caste, religious and geographic influences. The book presents case studies of different programs of empowerment and the dalit movement.

Robinson (religious studies, Bath Spa U. College) shows how leaders of the movement have restated aspects of the religious tradition in a society where religion has been central to debate about the position of women, and where opposition to the movement has been rationalized in terms of religion. She explains that different members of the movement have advanced different interpretations of the tradition and so have had different reasons for and against appeal to Hindu beliefs and values.

Vibrant, dynamic, spirited and forceful. The contemporary women’s movement in India, which began in the late 1970s protested against the dark times, the violence and the misogyny. It also colourfully celebrated liberation, solidarity among women and breaking the shackles of patriarchy. It sang, performed and painted, to draw attention to the burning issues of the time: dowry death, widow immolation, acid throwing and rape. Over the past three decades, the women’s movement has matured and broadened to include a gamut of issues related to women’s health, sexuality, the environment, literacy, the impact of religion and communalism on women’s lives, political participation, labour rights, disability rights, class and caste issues, and many more. Indeed, feminism meant looking at the world through women’s eyes. This book constructs a pictorial history of the complex and multi-layered women’s movement through its visual representation: posters, drawings, pamphlets, reports, brochures, stickers, wall-writing and photographs. The posters reproduced here are part of Zubaan’s Poster Women project, which has attempted to locate and archive as many posters of the movement as possible to be able to visually map the women’s movement and its concerns. The Poster Women archive can be accessed at www.posterwomen.org. Published by Zubaan.