Promises of Empowerment Women in Asia and Latin America

by Troutner, Jennifer L.; Hünefeldt, Christine; Blumberg, Rae Lesser; Wei, Bu; Charoenloet, Voravidh; Chung, Hwa Soo; Iglesias, Norma; Jaquette, Jane S.; Kora, Sanae; Neves, Mauro, Jr.; Ogai, Tokuko; Ríos Tobar, Marcela; Smith, Peter H.; Tinker, Irene; Trive

• ISBN13: 9780742529236
• ISBN10: 0742529231
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-05
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

How and to what degree are women worldwide gaining and using power? This book offers the first genuinely comparative assessment of this key question by exploring the conditions, actions, and accomplishments of women in Latin America and Asia. Encompassing 60 percent of the world's population and experiencing far-reaching transformations, these two regions offer a vital window into our understanding of the experiences of women globally. Revealing both basic similarities and fundamental differences, this volume offers thoughtful insights about the changing conditions of women, on the one hand, and, on the other, about patterns of social change throughout Asia and Latin America.

Author Biography

Rae Lesser Blumberg is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia and professor emerita at the University of California, San Diego Bu Wei is professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in Beijing Voravidh Charoenloet is associate professor of economics and director of the Political Economy Studies Center at Chulalongkorn University, in Bangkok, Thailand Hwa Soo Chung is a foreign legal consultant at Kim and Chang in Korea Christine Hunefeldt is professor of history at the University of California, San Diego Norma Iglesias is professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State University; she is also a researcher and a professor in the Department of Cultural Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, in Tijuana, Mexico Jane S. Jaquette is Bertha Harton Orr Professor of the Liberal Arts, professor of politics, and former chair of the Department of Diplomacy and World Affairs at Occidental College. Sanae Kora works as a consultant at the Nomura Research Institute, in Tokyo, Japan Mauro Neves Jr. is associate professor at the Department of Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian Studies at Sophia University, in Tokyo, Japan Tokuko Ogai is associate research fellow at the Institute of Gender Studies at Ochanomizu University Marcela Rios Tobar is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison Peter H. Smith is professor of political science and Simon Bolivar Professor of Latin American Studies at the University of California, San Diego Irene Tinker is professor emerita from the University of California, Berkeley Carolina Trivelli is general director of the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos in Lima, Peru Jennifer L. Troutner conducts research on the international dimensions of the interrelationships among language, culture, and politics. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Communication at the University of California, San Diego, in 1996 Flor de Lis Vasquez Munoz is a career diplomat in Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Table of Contents

Foreword
Jane S. Jaquette	vii
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: Empowering Women: Agency, Structure, and Comparative Perspective	1	(30)
Jennifer L. Troutner and Peter H. Smith
Part I: Politics and the Public Arena	31	(94)
1. Many Paths to Power: Women in Contemporary Asia	35	(25)
Irene Tinker
2. Climbing the Pyramids of Power: Alternative Routes to Women's Empowerment and Activism	60	(28)
Rae Lesser Blumberg
3. From the Personal to the Political: Women Activists in Japan	88	(15)
Tokuko Ogai
4. Feminism and the Transition to Democracy in Chile	103	(25)
Marcela Rios Tobar
Part II: At Work and at Home	125	(76)
5. Women and Economic Crisis: Mexico and Thailand	128	(21)
Voravidh Charoenloet and Flor de Lis Vasquez Muñoz
6. Women, Poverty, and Survival of the Household: Peru	149	(18)
Carolina Trivelli
7. Women in the Business World: Japan in Comparative Perspective	167	(18)
Sanae Kora
8. Women and the Internet in China	185	(19)
Bu Wei
Part III: Constructions and Representations	201	(64)
9. Social Codes and Gender Roles: Schoolbooks in Korea and Mexico	204	(21)
Hwa Soo Chung
10. Women and Cinema in Mexico	225	(22)
Norma Iglesias
11. Gender and Sexuality on Television: Japan and Brazil	247	(18)
Mauro Neves Jr.
Conclusion: States, Markets, and Patterns of Empowerment	265	(16)
Christine Hünefeldt
Index	281	(8)
About the Contributors	289