Exposing the Myths of Muslim Fertility: Gender and Religion in a Resettlement Colony of Delhi (CWDS)
By Sabiha Hussain

As a consequence of the politicisatton of religion in India, the study of religious differentials in fertility and family planning is a highly sensitive issue. Not just the popular media but even scholarship has been instrumental in fomenting ideas about the alarming growth of the Muslim population due to Islamic beliefs and practices. Thus, the communalisation of the population debate has made any discussion of the reproductive practices of Muslims both highly contentious and deeply confused.

This comparative study of two religious communities, Hindu and Muslim, in one of Delhi's slums throws considerable light on their reproductive behavior by going beyond commonly held stereotypes. It begins by exploring whether religious differences override the commonalities of gender class and socio-economic status. The exact nature and extent of differences between these two communities is carefully analysed drawing on aspects of women’s health, marriage practices, child mortality, migration, education and work patterns. Existing theories in the vast demographic literature, especially on there relationships between religion and fertility, are also, explored.

 

Photography as a medium has captured the diverse realities of women’s lives over the last century and a half, providing a more holistic understanding of what is learned through the written word, memory, and recall. Visualizing Indian Women is a collection of 300 such rare photographs depicting women’s lives during the period 1875-1947, gleaned from archives as well as private collections.

(Edited by Vina Mazumdar, N.Krishnaji) (Rainbow Publishers)

Gender Biases and Discrimination against Women: What do different indicators say? (UNIFEM)
 

This monograph develops a multi-disciplinary, analytical framework, which can be used in both, field research and subsequent analysis of data.  The household and family are conceptualized in the context of intra-domestic power dynamics.  The concept of ‘space’ is developed to capture both, power and empowerment.  Parallel categorization of ‘space’ and ‘environment’ in their physical, economic, socio-cultural and political dimensions, link the micro with the macro.  The framework draws upon the project “Women’s Work and Family Strategies in South and South-East Asia” which comprised of inter-regional collaborative studies, conducted by the Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi,  India, under the sponsorship of the United Nations University.  These studies had focused on women’s work, migration and education as family strategies used for survival and upward mobility.  The monograph uses the finding of the studies to substantiate the framework, and simultaneously analyses the studies using categories developed in the framework.

Contributions in Honour of Vina Mazumdar

(Edited by Lotika Sarkar, Kumud Sharma, Leela Kasturi)

(Rainbow Publishers)
 

This  campaign document contains an analytical study based on the 1996 National Crimes Record  Bureau (NCRB) district level data.  It maps the high crime reporting districts of India with highlights of states over five years, from 1995 to 1999, recording some milestones of action taken by the Women’s Movement.  It reproduces the 1979 open letter to the Chief Justice of India which helped to speak of widespread protests against the Mathura rape Case – since then acknowledged as heralding the revival of the women’s movement in India after independence and extracts on custodial rape from People’s Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR).  It also charts the role of the print media in reporting crimes against women.  It provides a detailed state and district level data for five years on different categories of crime with a select bibliography.