Gendered Lives, Livelihood And Transformation

This book dwells upon gendered lives and livelihoods among marginalized groups in Bangladesh and explores the dynamics of Bangladesh’s transformation from a subsistence to a capitalist economy. By interrogating multiple dimensions of the everyday lives of marginalized women,it seeks to understand the workings of this social transformation on the individual level. The essays in this anthology were deliberately chosen to demonstrate the under-studied realities of peripheral economies, including indigenous women alienated from their traditional form of agriculture, Dalit women embedded in caste-specific work structures and relations, female-headed households in rural areas, and elderly women in city slums. All of the studies are a product of original fieldwork, which produced rich qualitative and a limited amount of quantitative data. This unique contribution to the literature on the lives of marginal women in Bangladesh can assist with both theory-building efforts in this vital area and the development of future policies.