Imagine a setting in which it was commonly thought that "women don't learn". Many also asked, "Why should they?"
Into this environment, a young, recent university graduate was sent by the Peace Corps to create a program in home development for village women.
What happened is the focus of this book. The story of what transpired is told through the narratives of the women who challenged traditional patterns of subordination and seclusion to take up the opportunity to learn.
The setting is the villages of Comilla in what is now Bangladesh, in the early Sixties. The place is the Academy for Rural Development created to bring economic and social improvement to this area. The main characters are village women of all social and economic strata who faced extreme disapproval from family and others as they joined training classes. The initial stimulus was simple: "to earn a few pennies" to relieve family needs. Over time, however, their acquisition of knowledge and skills transformed their abilities to take initiative, to influence others, and to accrue status in their villages.
The accomplishments of these women in transforming their own lives and those of their families and other women is remarkable and engrossing. Their experiences present a small but essential contribution to the history of women in Bangladesh. It deserves not to be lost.
