Introduction to the Handbook on Gender in Asia

Why privilege gender in a volume on Asia? The answer, as evident in the chapters in this volume, is that gender continues to be a fundamental factor in the way lives of individuals, families and societies across Asia are organized on multiple fronts and spaces. While modernization and globalization have generated changes and challenges to cultural traditions and practices, the persistence and durability of gender ideals and norms surrounding men’s and women’s roles across the life cycle still characterize much of Asia. Patriarchal attitudes ensure that gender inequality remains high in many parts of Asia (McKinsey Global Institute, 2018). Much research from feminist and gender perspectives, however, has clearly demonstrated that we cannot homogenize men as privileged and empowered vis-à-vis women as victims and lacking agency even under this scenario. Rather than simply providing more evidence to support this observation, the chapters in this volume identify gaps in existing scholarship on gender issues in Asia, in which work remains limited. Through a major literature review, each chapter provides an overview of the intellectual developments and contributions of the topic that is covered in the chapter, before turning to empirical discussions drawing from the author’s own research. While many chapters employ qualitative methods, several use quantitative analyses. Most chapters end with proposals for a research agenda intended to move lines of enquiry on the topic forwards productively. Significantly, this is not only a multi-disciplinary compendium of scholarship in gender studies on Asia but one in which Asian voices are clearly represented – not only in the case studies discussed, but also because authors in and from Asia figure strongly. Notably, several authors in this volume do not necessarily publish in English. Many feminists have called for increased transnational dialogues and conversations that include academics from beyond the English-speaking global North (Nagar, 2002; Raghuram, 2019). This volume is thus also to some extent a means to bring together perspectives from scholars based in Asia and beyond to critically examine, from a gender perspective, existing and emerging issues relating to five broad themes: the ‘Theory and Practice’ of researching in Asia; ‘Gender, Ageing and Health’; ‘Gender and Labour’; ‘Gendered Migrations and Mobilities’; and ‘Gender at the Margins’. It is hoped that this volume can help to move gender scholars working in/on the region, towards ‘developing new Asian feminist and gendered discourses that make sense of the local empirical realities of Asia on the one hand, while connecting and speaking