Women and Asian Religions

Covering eclectic topics ranging from South Asian religion to motherhood to world dance to ethnomusicology this book focuses on contemporary selected experiences of women and how their lives interface with religion.Religion has often been perceived as the source of constriction for women''s roles in society. This volume explores how modern women across Asia are mobilizing their faith traditions to address existential issues encountered in both the public and private realms relating to economics public participation politics and culture. As such it is revealed that religion can be a powerful force for social change and ameliorating women''s lives despite use of religious doctrine in the past to limit women. Editor Zayn R. Kassam PhD and the contributors cover not only the commonly considered Asian traditions of Hinduism Islam and Buddhism but also Christianity Judaism Bahai and indigenous traditions. The book reveals that the challenges and opportunities Asian women face arise both from within and outside whether in terms of developments within their countries or in relation to international political and economic regimes. The chapters explore how the issues Asian women face have as much to do with cultural and religious codes as they do with politics economics education and the law; consider the varying ways in which family and motherhood are affected by the state''s construction of the gendered citizen by social constructs of motherhood and by policies regarding women and children''s access to health care; and identify the roles played by religion and spirituality in these circumstances.