Introduction

Abstract

The debate on the relationship between the ideological and the material which has long occupied a primary place in Marxist scholarship is also one of central importance to feminist analysis.¹ This book addresses some aspects of the debate in the context of Asia. In particular, it examines the role that ideology can play both as a disabling and an enabling factor in the lives of women seeking to earn a livelihood for themselves and their families under conditions of poverty. In many parts of Asia (especially in the South and West), for instance, prevailing traditional ideologies impose restrictions on women’s participation in income-generating work, by prescribing their confinement within circumscribed spaces, even while their economic situation necessitates such participation. Women caught in the poverty trap may then face conflicting choices between survival needs and social status and acceptability within the community. These choices can be particularly stark in communities where religion and culture dictate a high degree of physical seclusion and dependence for women, and where the State additionally reinforces traditional dictates, as in today’s Islamic theocracies. In contrast, elsewhere in Asia (as in much of South-East and parts of South Asia), the absence of such restrictions or the prevalence of traditional ideologies that favour female employment and autonomy, or State policies that counter the thrust of traditional restrictions, can complement women’s attempts at economic survival and advancement.