Srilatha Batliwala is Civil Society Research Fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University, where her work focuses on transnational civil society, transnational grassroots movements, and practice-research engagement. She is also Chair of the Board of the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), New York.

Formerly, Srilatha worked as Program Officer in the Governance and Civil Society Program of the Ford Foundation, New York, and as head of the Women's Policy Research and Advocacy Unit (now, the Gender Studies Unit) of the National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India.

Over the past 30 years, Srilatha has combined grassroots activism, policy advocacy, research and teaching, with experience that spans mobilizing and organizing poor urban and rural women in India, empirical research, theory building from grassroots practice, participation in major national and international policy processes, and research and publishing on key issues related to gender and development. Her most well known publications include the book Status of Rural Women in Karnataka, and Women's Empowerment in South Asia - Concepts and Practices.

Recent articles

Even in those handful of countries where women elected representatives have reached more than a critical mass, the political institutions of those countries have not become more accountable, more inclusive, more democratic. So can democracy really be reshaped from the inside? asks Srilatha Batliwala.

The political claim advanced by women in India via the idea of "empowerment" has been appropriated by their adversaries and false friends. It needs to be rewon for a fresh vision grounded in the experiences of poor women, says Srilatha Batliwala.

Women must reassess their political progress and achievements if they are to transform mainstream politics. Srilatha Batliwala sizes up the challenge.