The support and inspiration for this publication has come from the Asian and Pacific Development Centre (APDC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN). For entrusting this work to me, I am indebted to Noeleen Heyzer, Co-ordinator, Gender and Development Programme of APDC who is also DAWN’s Asian Regional Representative, and Gita Sen, the coordinator of DAWN’s research project on Alternative Economic Frameworks. Indeed, it has been a very fruitful and rewarding experience. I would also like to thank Sebastian Mathew, Nata Duvvury and Sunil Mani who gave me useful comments on an initial draft of the book.

For the preparation of the bibliography, many known and unknown people, from near and far-off countries, have been most generous and posted materials and references to me. My deep gratitude goes to Ifazulal Haq-Chowdhury (Jamal) from Bangladesh; to Ines Smyth and Jeff Glasgow of the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, the Netherlands; Gerry Rodgers of the International Labour Organization, Geneva; La Rainne Abad-Sarmiento of the Centre for Women’s Resources, Quezon City, the Philippines; the Centre for Women and Development, Kathmandu, Nepal and the Centre for Developing Area Studies, McGill University, Quebec, Canada. Thanks also to Nata Duvvury, Haseeb Drabu and T. K. Sundari.

The POPLIN CD-ROM Database, release 1.6, April 1990, Rural Development Abstracts (various issues) and the Agricultural and Rural Development CD-ROM Database, 1989 of the Royal Tropical Institute (K.I.T.), Amsterdam have been very useful sources for the preparation of the bibliography. APDC’s useful editorial support of Rashidah Abdullah and Yap Chin Yean, with the assistance of Olga Fernandez is acknowledged.

Funding for the printing of this publication from Ford Foundation is very much appreciated