Women, political parties and social movements in South Asia

This paper will explore two sets of relationships that have until now received relatively little scholarly attention: between women and political parties, and between political parties and social movements that organize women. The focus of this paper will be on South Asia, with case studies of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and, given the area of expertise of the author, particularly India. The paper will address a range of issues concerning women, parties and movements in South Asia. First, what determines the success of political parties in recruiting, retaining and promoting women? To what extent are there systematic differences between parties of the left, right and centre, and between national and regional parties in this regard? How common and effective are…