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It is a common belief that there are substantial returns on education, both direct and indirect and gainful employment is regarded as one of the expected outcomes of education. However, existing analyses of the employment–unemployment trends in India indicate an inverse relationship between women's education and employment. Within such a context this article seeks to raise the question of whether the education system can address the problem of educated women withdrawing from the labour force even as attempts are made to transform other structural factors that impinge on the situation. Feminist concerns about empowerment frame this discussion on education and employment.

The present paper examines the founding moment of women's studies in India, namely, the 1970s. It investigates the unique impulses that made women's studies possible, which predated the official recognition of women's studies as field of study within the university system. Institutions such as the Indian Council of Social Science Research as well as the women's movement were critical players in this complex process. The paper goes on to discuss a major lacuna in women's studies, namely, its pedagogical dimension. Indeed, the absence of information or discussion of feminist pedagogic strategies within higher education could be one of the chief hurdles currently impeding a critical assessment of the undoubtedly significant role that women's studies has played.

This handbook is an important reference work in understanding education systems in the South Asia region, their development trajectory, challenges and potential. The handbook includes the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries for discussion---Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka---while also considering countries such as Myanmar and the Maldives that have considerable shared history in the region. Such a comparative perspective is largely absent within the literature given the present paucity of intra-regional interaction. South Asian education systems are viewed primarily through a development lens in terms of inequalities, challenges and responses. However, the development of modern institutions of education and the challenges that it faces requires cultural and historical understanding of indigenous traditions as well as indigenous modern thinkers and education movements. Therefore, this encompassing referenc e work covers indigenous education traditions, formal education systems, including school and preschool education, higher and professional education, education financing systems and structures, teacher education systems, addressing huge linguistic and other diversities, and marginalization within the formal education system, and pedagogy and curricula. All the countries in this region have their own unique geographical, cultural, economic and political character and histories of interest and significance, and have responded to common issues such as overcoming the colonial legacy, language diversity, or girls' education, or minority rights in education, in uniquely different ways. The sections therefore include country-specific perspectives as far as possible to highlight these issues. Internationally renowned specialists of South Asian education systems have contributed to this important reference work, making it an invaluable resource for researchers and students of education interested in South Asia. .