"Sitara Khan explores the issues of purdah, harem and sati and describes how these traditions shape the lives of Asian women. She examines the ways that women themselves cope with or resist the restrictions placed on their lives by these practices and how women are liberating themselves, in both the Subcontinent and the West. A Glimpse through Purdah traces the vast array of cultural influences on India from ancient times through partition to the present day. The interviews with women living in Karachi, Delhi and other cities on the Subcontinent and working as teachers, or in finance, retailing and the garment industry, make illuminating reading. Interviews with Asian women in a northern English town illustrate that migration has created more new problems for Asian women than it has solved."