Mehrangiz Najafizadeh is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at the University of Kansas where she is also an affiliated faculty in the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and in the Center for Global and International Studies. Linda L. Lindsey is Senior Lecturer in American Culture Studies and in the Department of Sociology at Washington University in St. Louis and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Maryville University of St. Louis.

• Preface; Part I: Introduction and Overviews of Women in Asia; Chapter 1: Globalization, Development, and Gender Equity: A Thematic Perspective on Women of Asia; Chapter 2: Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment, and the Sustainable Development Agenda in Asia; Chapter 3: Gendering Aid and Development Policy: Official Understanding of Gender Issues in Foreign Aid Programs in Asia; Part II: East Asia; Chapter 4: Globalization and Gender Equity in China; Chapter 5: China’s "State Feminism" in Context: The All-China Women’s Federation From Inception to Current Challenges; Chapter 6: Gender Equality and the Limits of Law in Securing Social Change in Hong Kong; Chapter 7: Women’s Experiences of Balancing Work and Family in South Korea: Continuity and Change; Chapter 8: Gender Equality in the Japanese Workplace: What Has Changed Since 1985?; Chapter 9: Addressing Women’s Health through Economic Opportunity: Lessons from Women Engaged in Sex Work in Mongolia; Part III: Southeast Asia; Chapter 10: Women, Globalization, and Religious Change in Southeast Asia; Chapter 11: Adapting Human Rights: Gender-Based Violence and Law in Indonesia; Chapter 12: Experiences of Financial Vulnerability and Empowerment among Women who were Trafficked in the Philippines; Chapter 13: Women as Natural Caregivers? Migration, Healthcare Workers, and Eldercare in Singapore; Chapter 14: Elected Women Politicians in Singapore’s Parliament: An Analysis of Socio-Demographic Profile; Chapter 15: Globalization and Increased Informalization of Labor: Women in the Informal Economy in Malaysia; Chapter 16: Women Politicians in Cambodia: Resisting and Negotiating Power in a Newly "Implemented" Democracy; Chapter 17: Freedom to Choose? Marriage and Professional Work among Urban Middle-Class Women in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam; Chapter 18: Entrepreneurial Women in Lao PDR; Chapter 19: Persisting Inequality, Rural Transformation, and Gender Relations in the Northeast of Thailand; Chapter 20: Challenging Gender Inequalities through Education and Activism: Exploring the Work of Women's Organizations in Myanmar's Transition; Part IV: South Asia; Chapter 21: Young Women’s Situation and Patriarchal Bargains: The Story of a Son-Less Family in Rural Bangladesh; Chapter 22: Livelihoods, Households, and Womanhood in Nepal; Chapter 23: Negotiating Gendered Violence in the Public Spaces of Indian Cities: Globalization and Urbanization in Contemporary India; Chapter 24: The Promises and Pitfalls of Microfinance in Pakistani Women’s Lives; Chapter 25: Afghan Women: The Politics of Empowerment in the Post-2001 Era; Part V: Eurasia and Central Asia; Chapter 26: Women in Azerbaijan: Decades of Change and Challenges; Chapter 27: Female Religious Leaders in Uzbekistan: Recalibrating Desires and Effecting Social Change; Chapter 28: Project Kelin: Marriage, Women, and Re-Traditionalization in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan; Chapter 29: "Women Move the Cradle with One Hand and with the Other, the World!" Methodological Reflections on "The Woman Question" in Tajikistan; Chapter 30: Tradition, Islam, and the State: International Organizations and the Prevention of Violence against Women in Tajikistan; Chapter 31: Rural Women’s Encounters with Economic Development in Kyrgyzstan; Chapter 32: Women as Change Agents: Gender in Post-Soviet Central Asia; Notes on Contributors