very positively to the new educational opportunities for women and men. Even among
middle and upper status families change has been more dramatic where a more class-
based system of social stratification exists. Residence in traditional caste-based
neighbourhoods with large extended patrifocal families has kept the forces of change
that female education could potentially produce, under control.
This volume provides remarkable insight into the ways in which variations in family
structure influence the issue of female access to, and achievement in, education.
Contributors explore the impact that the cultural norms of a patrifocal society have on
girls' schooling. The male bias in patrifocal norms and ideology are translated into
educational approaches that favour sons. The education of girls beyond a certain level is
seen as socially problematic, and concerns about "marriageability" limit the educational
choices available to women. The shortcoming of the book is that the ethnographic data
is almost exclusively taken from urban and upper class/caste samples. The research
findings would have been strengthened if data from rural and lower class/caste families
had been utilised to see what light they shed in the linkages between family structure
and female education. The anthropological-sociological approach, however, will be
indispensable in informing future research on the issue of gender and education.
MUKHOPADHYAY, Maitrayee (1984) Silver Shackles: women and development in
India, Oxfam, Oxford.
Mukhopadhyay makes the case that the definition and content of development
programmes should be re-examined. Her analysis of development policies in India
shows that with the attempt at rapid 'modernisation', and the neglect of integrated rural
development, women have lost their productive role in the economy and have been
displaced from the process of development. The issues that Mukhopadhyay discusses in
relation to the status of women are social organisations, population ratios, access to
education, economic contribution, non-governmental organisations and public policy.
She argues that the social structure derives its resilience to change from the cultural
norms that sustain it, and so there remains a gap between the changes that are planned
and the changes that have resulted. The aspects of social organisation which have
hindered the process of social change in the role of women are discussed; and these
include patriarchy, the joint family system, socialisation of the young, marriage,
marriage rites, dowry polygamy and religion. The book discusses at length the issue of
women's education and employment, and their impact on women's status.
Mukhopadhyay observes that the problem of illiteracy in India is primarily a problem
of female illiteracy; and female illiteracy is basically a problem of illiteracy among
rural women, particularly those from scheduled caste and tribal families. The majority
of women are beyond the ambit of formal education, and the only alternative is to
involve them in non-formal education. She criticises formal education as it exists in
India today as elitist. In a critique of women's role in the economy, it is pointed out that
lack of education and skill denies women access to employment which results in their