An article about the struggle over women’s rights in Nepal, by Margaret Becker of Adelaide University, has won the 2015 Wang Gungwu Prize for the best article published in Asian Studies Review in 2015.

The President of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA), Professor Louise Edwards, announced the winner of the annual prize, which was established by the ASAA in 2013 to recognise and encourage scholarly excellence in the Asian Studies Review.

Becker’s article, ‘Constructing SSLM: Insights from struggles over women’s rights in Nepal’, explores the extent to which Nepali women are able to enforce or expand their rights through engagement with the legal system.

It examines the roles of non-governmental organisations as ‘support structures for legal mobilisation’ (SSLM) and argues that while legal mechanisms are important they need to be embedded within a multipronged strategy for advancing women’s rights.

The article appeared in volume 39, issue 2, June 2015 of the Asian Studies Review’s special issue on ‘Law, Support Structures and the Realisation of Human Rights in Asia’ edited by Associate Professor Andrew Rosser, also of Adelaide University.

The Wang Gungwu Prize is named in honour of Professor Wang Gungwu, the distinguished historian who has contributed enormously to scholarship not only in Australia but also in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Professor Wang was also a key person behind the formation of the ASAA in 1976 and has served as its president.

The Wang Gungwu Prize is an award of $1,500.