This pioneering collection explores the ways in which women's sexual desires are experienced by them and how this experience effects women's empowerment. It shows that an exploration of pleasure can have a hugely positive impact for women at the personal, social and political levels. Traditional gender and development discourses tend to engage with sexuality in relation to violence and ill-health. Although this has been hugely important in challenging violence against women, over emphasizing these negative aspects has subsumed women's sexualities under violence, danger and fear. The media,...

Explores the conceptual and methodological dimensions of participatory research and the politics and practice of participation in development. This reader offers a range of reflections on participation that will be useful to those who are new to the field and experienced practitioners alike.

This book provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the developments which have brought about a new, global wave of inclusiveness and democracy.
From Brazil to Bangladesh, a new form of participatory politics is springing up. Featuring contributions detailing how such movements have worked in Latin America, Europe and Africa, the book analyzes the impact they have had on the democratic process. By opening up the political sphere in this way, the authors contend, these grassroots movements truly have created "spaces for change."

The economic and political empowerment of women continues to be a central focus for development agencies worldwide; access to medical care, education and employment, as well as women's reproductive rights remain key factors effecting women's autonomy. This book explores what women are doing to change their own circumstances, and provides in-depth analysis of collective action and institutionalized mechanisms aimed at changing structural relations. Drawing on unique, original research and approaching empowerment as a complex process of negotiation, rather than a linear sequence of inputs and...