Looking at gender through multiple lenses, this volume seeks to understand what empowerment really means to women today. It examines the situation of women in, and their contribution to, politics, business, education, social and economic development, the women's movement, health, law, insurgency and the arts.

The volume analyses certain key issues of contemporary discourse including:
* ownership of one's body and freedom of choice
* redefinition of empowerment and leadership and how far we have achieved it
* importance of equal access to education, employment and health
* political participation and decision making, and
* dichotomy between marginalisation of women on grounds of caste, class and religion in a society with changing laws on women's rights