Publisher's Synopsis
Drawing on case studies of the Communist Party of India in West Bengal and Shramik Sangathana in Maharashtra, this work examines Indian women's political activism. Investigating institutional changes at the state level and protest at the village level, Amrita Basu traces the paths of two kinds of political activism among these women. With insights gleaned from extensive interviews with activists, government officials, and ordinary men and women, she finds that militancy has been fueled by pronounced sexual class cleavages combined with potentially rancorous ethnic division.
