This is a study of the prescriptive roles and lived experiences of Asian women and the construction of gender. Ranging from prehistory to modern times, it reveals wide differences in the status and roles of women and the processes of cultural adaptation in both east and southeast Asia, and China, Japan and Korea. It offers analyses on major issues derived from research, and discusses such stereotypical practices as footbinding (long seen as exotic in the West) in the context of women's lives.