This work assesses the contemporary situation of women in India in four broad domains: the cultural, the social, the political and the economic. The contributors argue that despite apparently positive indicators of progress, particularly education and paid employment, little has changed in the position of women. Steadily falling sex ratios suggest a growing - and in some parts of India an institutionalized - bias against the female child. They trace the complex way in which this connected with development processes, and assert that, along with economic development, there seems to have been a strengthening of male biases, patriarchal norms and values across all castes and classes in India. Can these two processes be seen as entirely separate, they ask, or are they organically linked? These essays aim to provide a fresh perspective on women's lives in India and bring out interesting contrasts and comparisons between the North and South.