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Towards Women’s Strategies in the 1990s pp 16–50Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The State, Religious Fundamentalism and Women in South Asia

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Abstract

One of the crucial issues affecting women in South Asia today has been the growth of state-sponsored religious fundamentalism. This is occurring in the context of increasing evidence of violence against women — dowry murders, sexual harassment, rape (often by the police and army) and the throwing of acid on women in the streets.1 As a result of campaigns and agitations by women’s groups and organizations, government attention has been drawn to these incidents and some preventive laws have been passed, albeit with many loopholes and limitations. However, significantly, in recent years there has been a shift away from even the liberal rhetoric of equal rights for women, and laws have been passed to withdraw legal and political rights which women had already won. These developments are linked with broader economic and political changes which have laid the basis for religious fundamentalist groups to grow, as well as for the support for these tendencies by South Asian governments.

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Authors
  1. Amrita Chhachhi
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands

    Geertje Lycklama à Nijeholt

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© 1991 The Institute of Social Studies

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Chhachhi, A. (1991). The State, Religious Fundamentalism and Women in South Asia. In: à Nijeholt, G.L. (eds) Towards Women’s Strategies in the 1990s. Institute of Social Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12622-4_2

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