Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Negotiating Empowerment Andrea Cornwall and Jenny Edwards 1.Legal Reform, Women's Empowerment and Social Change: The Case of Egypt Mulki Al-Sharmani 2.Quotas: A Pathway of Political Empowerment? Ana Alice Alcantara Costa 3. Advancing Women's Empowerment or Rolling Back the Gains? Peace Building in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone Hussaina J. Abdullah 4. Education: Pathway to Empowerment for Ghanaian Women? Akosua K. Darkwah 5. Paid Work as a Pathway of Empowerment: Pakistan's Lady Health Worker Programme Ayesha Khan 6. Steady Money, State Support and Respect Can Equal Women's Empowerment in Egypt Hania Sholkamy 7. Changing Representations of Women in Ghanaian Popular Music Akosua Adomako Ampofo and Awo Mana Asiedu 8. Subversively Accommodating: Feminist Bureaucrats and Gender Mainstreaming Rosalind Eyben 9. Reciprocity, Distancing and Opportunistic Overtures: Women's Organizations Negotiating Legitimacy and Space in Bangladesh Sohela Nazneen and Maheen Sultan 10. Empowerment as Resistance: Conceptualizing Palestinian Women's Empowerment Eileen Kuttab 11. Crossroads of Empowerment: The Organization of Women Domestic Workers in Brazil Terezinha Goncalves 12. Women's Dars and the Limitations of Desire: The Pakistan Case Neelam Hussain 13. The Power of Relationships: Money, Love and Solidarity in a Landless Women's Organization in Rural Bangladesh Naila Kabeer and Lopita Huq 14. Women Watching Television: Surfing between Fantasy and Reality Aanmona Priyadarshini and Samia Afroz Rahim 15. Family, Households and Women's Empowerment through the Generations in Bahia, Brazil: Continuities or Change? Cecilia M. B. Sardenberg.

The economic and political empowerment of women continues to be a central focus for development agencies worldwide; access to medical care, education and employment, as well as women's reproductive rights, remain key factors effecting women's autonomy. Feminisms, Empowerment and Development explores what women are doing to change their own personal circumstances, and it provides an in-depth analysis of collective action and institutionalized mechanisms aimed at changing structural relations.