section 1. Gender : current status -- section 2. Gender : some issues -- section 3. Policies towards gender empowerment … -- section 4. Gender and rural development -- section 5. Gender : select interventions for gender development …

Do women participate in and influence meetings equally with men? Does gender shape how a meeting is run and whose … voices are heard? The Silent Sex shows how the gender composition and rules of a deliberative body dramatically affect who … decides. It argues that efforts to improve the representation of women will fall short unless they address institutional rules …