Exploring the theme of home based work in conservative rural societies this book focuses on Muslim women in the troubled Faizabad-Ayodhya region of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Women's attempts to grapple with the cultural and religious strictures placed on them are examined against a backdrop of material need, developmental failures and the communalization of identities. In doing so the author attempts to uncover the logic behind female collaboration and compromise with the ideology and institutions of male domination. Fusing academic analysis with lucid reportage the volume is an important contribution to the field of gender studies pertaining to women in South Asia.