What is astonishing about this wide-ranging volume on women’s political participation in Asia and the obstacles hindering it is not the variety of hurdles Asian women face, but their similarity. Wherever women happen to live – in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka – the obstacles encountered by women who want to go into politics (in contrast to voting where percentages are always high) are not only formidable, but (sadly) predictable. … The volume is commendable not so much for its empirical findings, which are very useful in their own right, but for the questions and theoretical conundrums it throws up. It is a must for anybody who wants to know more about the situation of women in Asia.

 In his introduction to this volume, editor and contributor Kazuki Iwanaga argues that “research [on women in politics] has been done almost exclusively in advanced industrial democracies with little, if any, attention paid to Asia.” This collection of articles is an attempt to remedy that deficit. The book is ambitious, and as is often the case with edited volumes, the work presented is uneven in quality. Nonetheless, in highlighting work done by a global team of researchers, many of them natives of the countries on which they report, and ranging from investigations of female chief executives in South Asian nations to women in Chinese village politics, these collected chapters make an important contribution to the study of women and politics outside of Western Europe and the United States.

"...combining solid up-to date specialist reviews with fresh thinking.

...merit  wide readership by faculty and students specialising in the area, as well as by professionals, policymakers, and practitioners."