This insightful book examines women's lives across Asia, challenging typical stereotypes and providing a fresh look at the changing role of women in various regions of the vast continent. All around the world, women's important role in history has only recently been acknowledged. Asia is no exception. Despite a long record of achievements, women's experiences in South, Southeast, and East Asia go largely untold. This compelling book looks at women's lives in contemporary Asia, and reviews the cultural similarities-and differences-in the patterns and experiences of women across various regions. Women's Roles in Asia examines the full scope of women's lives throughout history, including specific topics such as education, family life, marriage and childbearing, religion, public life, economics, legal status, and literature and the arts. A timeline and introduction provide a backdrop to the events, achievements, and issues that have impacted Asian women from pre-colonial time to the present day. Photographs provide visual context to topics A helpful glossary defines terms and acronyms

This important and timely reference work examines violence against women and gender-based discrimination around the world, providing a global perspective on why this kind of oppression is still occurring in the 21st century. Within the past decade, the attention that has been paid to violence against women by international government organizations such as the United Nations and World Health Organization has grown. Yet silences around the violent treatment of women remains across the world, particularly in those countries where women's rights are not protected and statistics are not available. Women and Violence encompasses a global perspective of the history, causes, and complex underpinnings of gender and violence from a multidimensional and cross-disciplinary perspective. Chapters focus on a specific world region, including North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Each chapter begins with a general discussion on its world region, then focuses on particular forms of violence against women in the more specific contexts of particular countries and in relation to the wider region. Readers will be able to make cross-cultural comparisons, learning how to view gender-based violence and women's advocacy against discrimination that is occurring around the world. Enables a fuller comprehension of how contemporary ideas about gender and power are being debated, reinforced, and challenged Offers a repository of key concepts used by local scholars and country specialists who study gender-based violence Sheds light on gender-based violence and women's advocacy against discrimination that is occurring around the world Lists major events that have occurred in relation to women and violence around the world through history in a chronology Offers insightful information related to the chapters in sidebars throughout the text