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.
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.