Women Changing India

India is changing. And at the heart of this change are its women. The change is widespread and varied, individual and collective, reflecting the full spectrum of women’s lives, whether in politics or in economics, in business, or within their daily domestic work. This book maps—in words and in one hundred and fifty marvelous color photographs—some of the changes that are both visible and invisible in India today.

In Women Changing India, six writers flesh out the stories captured by photographers Raghu Rai, Martine Franck, Olivia Arthur, Alex Webb, Alessandra Sanguinetti, and Patrick Zachmann from the world-renowned Magnum Photos. These beautiful and evocative photographs focus on the world of women working with the help of microloans, participating in grassroots governance, working behind the scenes in the Mumbai film industry, and moving into new jobs, often in male-dominated fields. Together, they are making contributions in varied fields and imagining a new future for themselves and other women. Featuring contributions from leading writers, Women Changing India offers a window into the lives of women living in South Asia today, bringing to public attention their complex realities and their aspirations for a better world.

Urvashi Butalia is the founder and director of Zubaan and cofounder of India’s first feminist publishing house, Kali for Women. She is the author of The Other Side of Silence. Anita Roy is senior editor at Zubaan.

Preface

Women Changing India: An Introduction

      Urvashi Butalia and Anita Roy

Contributors

Acknowledgements