Women's History Book Reviews

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The State of Women in the World Atlas, new edition
Joni Seager, Penguin Books, New York, 1997

Colorful imaginative maps of the world illustrate up-to-date statistics which capture the shape of women's lives across continents and cultures. This is a terrific classroom tool which allows students on their own to chart similarities and differences among the world's women. Statistics on topics such as: gains and losses toward equality with men since the 1980s; marriage and divorce rates; size of family households, including percentages of families living in poverty; incidence of domestic violence and number of shelters available; fertility rates, including information on preference for males and girl neglect; population policies, including pages on contraception and abortion practices and on maternal mortality; women athletes; beauty contests, cosmetic surgery, and eating disorders; global sex trade and rape; types of work, status of pay, migrant workers, percentages of workforce; pages on education issues; ownership of property; poverty and credit for women; women's political power at all levels.