"The book highlights the commonalties and differences in rural women s experiences across the countries and communities of the South Asian region. It argues that the low status and weak empowerment of rural women is on account of the structural conditions of poverty and inequality in the region, the social and cultural shaping of gender ideologies, and the multiple patriarchies and caste and class dominance through which poor women experience power relations. However, a sense of optimism pervades as country experiences reflect the renewed concerns and commitments about rural women s empowerment in both state policy and the significant snowballing of social activism in the region. The essays in the book reiterates the importance of poverty alleviation, providing decent work opportunities, investing in education and health, involving women in decision making and governance such that their substantive empowerment could be fostered by enhancing their capabilities, entitlements and choices."

"Issues of rural development and women s empowerment receive critical attention in various debates. Trends and patterns of agricultural development in recent years have not always been favourable to women, especially rural women, who face marginalisation. Some of the essays make us rethink the relationship between employment and empowerment in a more nuanced way. An attempt has, therefore, been made in this book, to take stock of the contemporary challenges in rural women s empowerment in India and suggest viable solutions through a process of networking and dialogue to evolve a coherent perspective for the region as a whole. It is towards this end that the book would serve as a launching pad for further discussions."

Founded in 1978, the goal of the Working Women's Forum is to improve living conditions of working women in India. Its struggle against poverty and insufficient social protection includes programs for women's health and welfare, and credits and cooperatives to enhance the economic participation of women. This organization has developed into a platform for empowerment, giving Indian women both voice and capacity to realize their economic and social goals. The Working Women's Forum has, for over a decade and a half, mobilized the poorest, and the most marginalized sector of the work force in India. Poor women workers face constraints and oppression by their barriers of caste, class, and gender that further marginalize their position both at home and at work place. Caste affiliation restricts their mobility and formulates cultural norms for their social behavior. Class membership limits their access to productive resources and makes them invisible in the economic spheres. The gender roles relegate women to a low productive occupation near the household, minimizing their economic role as only an extension of their domestic chores. In detailing the history and growth of the Working Women's Forum in India, Structuring a Movement and Spreading It On shows how women workers are undermined as workers, defined as housewives, and forced to a status of invisibility, living in subsistence and marginal survival conditions. Their vital contribution to the productive process and thereby the nation's economy is unrecognized. Therefore, the nation's planning process never makes the requisite allocations for the growth and development of this section. It is this segment of the work force that have beenorganized by the Working Women's Forum through credit cooperatives and collective spirit of unionism that has brought about a sea change in the lives of the poorest women. Today, thousands of women have been released from the clutches of perpetual indebtedness and dependency on moneylenders and other middlemen. Women have thus been able to save, create assets, and improve the quality of living, thus ensuring growth with equity.