Women's Lives and Public Policy: The International Experience.

Feminist critiques of modernization can be classified into two fairly broad categories: internal and external feminist critiques of modernization. Liberal feminists, who comfortably fit the category of internal feminist critiques of modernization, are critical of modernization because it has led to the increasing marginalization of women. However, these critics do not disagree with the epistemological foundations of modernization which often are in concert with "liberal economic theories of dualism": the desirability of having a "modern, industrial dominant sector" over a "traditional, stagnant, underdeveloped sector" (p.xii). The writings of liberal feminists, emphasize the necessity of integrating Third World women into modernization. This analysis rests on problematic oppositional constructs of tradition-modernity, men-women, beneficiaries-victims, powerful-powerless. It has also been critiqued for its gender-separationist approach because it "ghettoizes" women and their contributions leaving the "real development" issues to men. Finally, it has been criticized for not providing a feminist alternative to modernization, one which includes both productive and reproductive labor as central to capital accumulation, and includes violence against women in account of human rights and human dignity.

The external critics of modernization who range from socialist feminists, feminist postmodernists, to Third World women, question the epistemological premise of modernization. Although the external critics are by no means united in their criticisms of modernization or their understanding of women, they do not equate modernization with development and advocate that a more "women, race, and class inclusive" development created by listening to Third World women's voices, by promoting a "feminist economics which recognizes renumerated and unrenumerated work in development, and by including "political issues such as gender equality and violence against women in economic analyses of development" (p.xii).

Women's Lives and Public Policy, with its focus on women's efforts at countering the impact of macroeconomic changes resulting from, for instance, structural adjustments, and addressing issues of violence against women, can be situated squarely within the category of the external critics of modernization or what Meredeth Turshen has called "global feminism." The book addresses the impact of development policy on women of AFASLA (Africa, Asia and Latin America) countries, and their responses to these policies. Although there is no common theoretical framework uniting the chapters, they are united by their adherence to expanding our understanding of development from an external critic or global feminist perspective. The chapters reveal that women's lives are impacted by both macro and micro-level public policies. Part I of the book entitled "Economic Policies and Migration" has chapters that discuss the gendered impact of structural adjustments, the innovative community based responses of Chilean women to structural adjustments imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the dynamics of sexism and racism experienced by African women migrating to France, the restructuring of women's responsibilities as a consequence of urbanization and the impact of population control policies on the health and status of women in Bangladesh.

Section II of the book, "Sex and Marriage, Violence and Control," aims to situate issues of violence against women within the context of human rights and development. Although international declarations on human rights, visible through Amnesty International and other international human rights agency declarations, have not included violence against women in any systematic form, and that any understanding of peace, democracy, human rights, and development remains incomplete without understanding that violence in any form against women deters societies from achieving development goals. The violence of industrial prostitution in South Korea, sex tourism in Thailand, the alteration of the feminist practice of dowry to its current anti-women stance through colonial policies, the risks and dangers of arranged marriages as India modernizes, and the representation of urban life in the literature of African women are discussed in this section.

Feminist analyses, that current development policies promoting liberal, economic regimes perceive women's labor as both invisible and infinitely elastic, and that women are the sources and pillars of community strength and opposition in the face of various forms of austerity and violence is supported by the chapters in this book.

The book is a welcome addition to the ever increasing literature on women and public policy in AFASLA countries. However, there are a few minor weaknesses. For example, the book could have benefitted from a thematic link between all the articles. There are several common themes that surface in most of the articles that could have been emphasized to give some unity to the articles: the theme of violence against women, or women's grassroots resistance and organization could provide a useful conceptual linkage for part I and II. In addition, the intersection of class and ethnicity with gender is discussed directly only by Scarpaci, and thus remains a weakness of the chapters. A more direct discussion of class and ethnicity, where applicable, would have enhanced the analyses.

Overall, the book is a useful addition to the literature on women and public policy. It is a reminder that public policy, both at the macro and micro levels, is gendered in its impacts. It also exposes us to the fact that although there are major structural forces that marginalize women, women act as the pillars of community opposition to these forces. It is the labor, and commitment of women that empowers communities to find alternatives in the face of hardships.

Geeta Chowdry
Northern Arizona University