This remarkable book charts the effects of the economic boom on women across Asia. Yori Matsui, one of Japan's leading journalists, demonstrates how Asian women are confronting rapid economic developmentwhich is accompanied by widespread infringement of human rights. Analysing the lives of women in Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Nepal, and Korea, the author explores

* the impact of globalization - including the feminization of migration and an increase in the trafficking of women
* sexual violence - from the 'comfort women' to child prostitution
* development projects - the cause of mass deforestation and displacement of communities

However she also describes women's credit co-ops, democratization movements and unionization of women workers. She meets women who have organised ant-logging blockades, literacy classes and campaighns against trafficking. She finds women across Asia resisiting the dictatorship od development, the feminization of poverty and patriarchal values. Throughout the continent she finds the seeds of hope for a new Asia.