This book is a first in many senses. Vijeyarasa takes us on a captivating journey exploring the legislative impact of four Asian women presidents, both on classical 'women's issues' as well as on matters scarcely examined from a gendered perspective, and for the first time under the lens of CEDAW and international women's rights standards in South and Southeast Asia. Weaving together the voices of the leaders themselves and of women and social movements of the
region, this book offers a telling and innovative view into the varied and at times contradicting ways in which women's executive governance can, and does, shape women's rights and their everyday experiences. It provides insights and tools for tackling the broader questions surrounding the construction of
gender equality and the elimination of discrimination from positions of political power.
Ramona Vijeyarasa is the architect behind the Gender Legislative Index, the first comprehensive IT-based tool to make legislation work more effectively to improve women's lives. Her work innovatively combines law, engineering, and data science to reinvigorate decades-long debates about the law's role in addressing gender inequality. A Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney, Ramona's research is informed by a decade working in
civil society. Ramona was the 2020-2022 Women's Leadership Institute Australia Research Fellow, a Runner-up in the 2021 Letten Prize, and has research grants and awards from New York University, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade.