Negotiating within Patriarchy

Susan Visvanathan Women as Subjects edited by Nita Kumar; Stree and Book Review Literary Trust,
WOMEN AS SUBJECTS is a non- controversial book on the question of gender analyses in Indian ethnography. The lack of polemic makes for safe, almost familial reading. Nothing in it could ruffle functionalist sociologists with pre-conceived notions about the biases of feminism and its impact on value-neutral sociology. Women's Studies, clearly, is here to stay. This book is about the stability and order of patriarchal systems, and how women have been able to negotiate within it, find positions of power and privilege, complementary to masculine structures. The first essay by Ann Gold, and the last essay by Nita Kumar are somewhat different, however, from the other essays.