Globalization and gender in south Asia

This chapter examines the affects of globalisation on gender equality (or lack thereof) in South Asia countries. It examines how social structures can be constituted in ways that advantage women at the macro, meso, and micro levels, challenging existing debates that women's agency is preordained and defined by powerful clan and religious societies. Further, the paper examines how institutions in global organisation fields place pressures for change on existing national institutions in such a way that mimetic and coercive isomorphism occurs. It explains how institutional isomorphism maintains the current norms of gender inequality. The paper aims to make a substantial contribution to the literature on gender and institutional change by illustrating how socially mobile groups influence institutional forces in existing organisational fields. The paper explores avenues for policies that advance the rights of women in these societies