A brutal gang-rape of a young woman in India in 2012 caused a global outcry against rising brutal violence against women. In response to the young woman's death and the protests that followed, the contributors analyze the position of women in South Asia, the issue of violence, women's political activism and gender inequalities.

Kerri Whittenbury, Monash University, Australia
Alexandra Haynes, Monash University, Australia
Sneha Krishnan, Oxford University, UK
Sadhna Arya, University of Delhi, India
Shashi Khurana, University of Delhi, India
Bushra Khaliq, Women in Struggle for Empowerment (WISE)
Bidushi Dhungel, activist and independent researcher
Alix Dolson, activist and independent researcher
Rokeya Kabir, Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (BNPS)
Kalyani Menon-Sen, independent researcher
Paromita Chakravarti, Jadavpur University, India
Kaushiki Rao, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Anusha Hariharan, independent researcher
Aruna Burte, Halo Medical Foundation, India
Shaheen Ashraf Shah, independent researcher
Mary Hope Schwoebel, independent researcher
Carol Wrenn, Concern Worldwide
Sebnem Cansun, ?stanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, Turkey
Mahmuda Islam, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA
Mahfuza akter Mala, independent researcher
Shantana Rani Halder
Nazmunnessa Mahtab, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Rajeshri N. Varhadi, University of Mumbai, India
Omar Tarek Chowdhury, rights activist, published freelance author and translator.

Table of Contents 1. Introduction: Women, Political Struggles and Activism: Exploring the Lives of Women in South Asia; Margaret Alston PART I: GENDER BASED VIOLENCE IN SOUTH ASIA 2. Responding to Rape: Feminism and Young Middle-Class Women in India; Sneha Krishnan 3. Gendered Violence: Forms, Incidence and Legislation in India; Sadhna Arya and Shashi Khurana 4. Women Struggles Against Structural-based Violence in Pakistan; Bushra Khaliq 5. Women in Bangladesh: Resistance Fighters and Invisible Heroes in the Economy and Society; Rokeya Kabir and Omar Tarek Chowdhury 6. Intergenerational Prostitution in India: How a Cultural Practice Constitutes Sex Trafficking; Alix Dolson PART II: ACTIVISM, RESISTANCE AND EMPOWERMENT 7. Powerful Perpetrators: A Kathmandu Perspective; Bidushi Dhungel 8. Living on the Edge: Mapping Homeless Women's Mobilisation in Kolkata, India; Paromita Chakravarti 9. Money where the Mouth is: Women, Capital and a Land Rights Movement; Kaushiki Rao and Anusha Hariharan 10. Linking Traditions of Resistance; Aruna Burte PART III: POLITICS, LEADERSHIP AND REPRESENTATION 11. Substantive Representation and Violence against Women (VAW) in Pakistan; Shaheen Ashraf, SHAH 12. The Intersection of the Public and Private for Pashtun Women in Politics; Mary Hope Schwoebel 13. Creating Spaces for Change: Santali Women's Role in Local Level politics in Rural India; Carol Wrenn 14. Women's Transformational leadership in Bangladesh: Potentials and Challenges; Nazmunnessa Mahtab 15. Women and Politics in Patriarchy: Case of Bangladesh; Mahmuda Islam Conclusion; Margaret Alston