Imperfect analysis

Writing on new-age working women is a good idea, but this book lacks a context and a framework. Little wonder then that the Women's Reservation Bill continues to be a matter of debate even after 16 years, and additionally, there are serious attempts to dilute several existing and important protective provisions for women. Gita Aravamudan's Unbound: Indian Women@Work is about the challenges faced by a cross section of new-age working women, a term coined by the author presumably to denote the period following liberalisation and a section of women who entered the job market then. Had some women politicians, women's studies' scholars and women's movement activists also been interviewed, it would have thrown a different dimension altogether to the narrative, given the tremendous challenges these women face. Documenting details of people's lives always makes interesting reading, more so if it happens to be a cross section of women achievers.