Global Women's Issues: Women in the World Today, extended version

Reviewed by Hollie Andrews, RN full time faculty at NECC, Northern Essex Community College on 4/14/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

Covers multiple areas of interest but there is no index or glossary. There are tons of references though.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Information is good and important subject matter. Although it is all about women it doesn’t appear to be bias by those who wrote it.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

A little bit older, talks about issues in the 90s but woman's issues are and will always be relevant as we continue to improve equality in education and wages. It will need to be updated in the future as new things emerge in this educational area. Updates will be easy to add or replace.

Clarity rating: 5

Easy to read and very interesting topics discussed.

Consistency rating: 4

Themes stayed consistent throughout text.

Modularity rating: 5

Each section has subsections in it. Could be broken down easily into lesson planning.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Topics were organized and presented in an easy manner to comprehend.

Interface rating: 5

Images were clear, no problem navigating the book.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No errors that I noticed.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Focused on many cultures and women’s issues around the world.

Comments

I enjoyed this book and learned things about women’s issues in other parts of the world I was not aware of before reading.

Reviewed by Debbie Engelen-Eigles, Faculty, Century College on 12/27/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The book is comprehensive in the range of issues it addresses, but falls short in the coverage of these issues. The main issues one would want to address--education, health, poverty, armed conflict, the environment, power and decision-making, etc.--are for the most part included. However, the text is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, United States Department of State, and this shows in the approach to the subject matter, with what feels like a top down perspective and much weight given to governmental international development efforts.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The information presented seems accurate, though as mentioned elsewhere in this review, dated and presenting an incomplete understanding of the issues.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 2

This is one of the biggest problems with this text. It is woefully out of date--the structure itself is based on the twelve issues of concern emanating from the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference, and frequently mentions the Millennium Development Goals (since replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015). It is also lacking in discussion of some basic theoretical frameworks central to the overarching topic—a transnational perspective highlighting the interconnectedness of North and South (beyond the work of aid organizations); the importance of an intersectional approach to understanding how gendered experience is shaped by factors such as age, ethnicity, religion, family status, disability, race, and social class (though these do receive some consideration); and frameworks like WID (Women in Development) as compared to GAD (Gender and Development) that have guided the international development work germane to so many topics addressed in the text. The best of the “Profile” and “Project” sections describe work at the grassroots and community levels, such as the piece on COMUCAP in Honduras in Chapter 1, highlighting the links between economic independence and women’s increased status in the family, resulting in a reduction in domestic violence. The “Additional Resources” sections at the ends of each chapter often have the most interesting information (in the form of URLs), though the most recent of these are usually 2016. It is unfortunate that when the text was updated in 2017, some new material was added but old information was not refreshed and brought up to date. The sections that make up the chapters are often more superficial than I would like for my students, even at a lower division undergraduate level.

Clarity rating: 4

The prose is clear and accessible overall--mostly written like Time magazine.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is fairly consistent throughout. Some discussion and essay questions at the end of the chapters seem to ask for information not covered in the chapters (such as how transgender women are portrayed in the media) or use concepts that need additional background for students to answer in a meaningful way (neoliberalism, non-state actors versus government programming).

Modularity rating: 5

It would be very easy to pull one chapter, or even one section of a chapter, for use to supplement materials on a given topic. Each chapter is made up of a few "articles" written by different authors, so each of those chapter sections can function as a stand-alone reading.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Organization is very straightforward; chapters and the sections within them are clearly delineated.

Interface rating: 5

Both the html and pdf online versions seemed easy enough to navigate.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No errors jumped out at me.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

There is no discussion of LGBTQ or disability issues at all. Some end of chapter references are provided for transgender issues, none for disability. As described above, there is little to no attention to transnational connections between North and South. Many of the profiles seem to highlight elite individuals, whether within their own countries or on the world stage.

Comments

Given my concerns about dated material and the lack of current theoretical perspectives in gender and women's studies, this text in its entirety would not be a good fit for my own class (Gender in Global Perspective). I might, however, pull a chapter section here and there to supplement other materials. The resource lists at the ends of each chapter and the discussion and essay questions can also be useful references.

Reviewed by Arlene Sgoutas, Professor, Gender Women and Sexualities Studies, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 12/3/20, updated 2/26/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text makes explicit that it will cover all the 12 critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Declaration in 1995, and it does. As noted by other reviewers, focusing primarily on women's experiences in developing nations and the Global South should be made discussed when teaching this text and supplemental materials provided to students. The text also highlights state and non-profit actors within individuals countries to offer successful solutions. Instructors should consider making connections for students between grassroots activism around the globe and their collective solutions. While there are key terms introduced in each chapter, there is no index or glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

As mentioned in other reviews, some of the content is dated and will need a refresh. I would not say the content is biased; however, it is filtered through a particular lens to fit the overall frame of the book. For example, in the chapter on Women and Poverty, the emphasis on social entrepreneurship and microfinance as the solution without a critique of capitalism . Although there is a discussion question posed related to the market as the most effective means of addressing poverty, it needs further exploration throughout the course.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The overall content is relevant, and the organization of the text is arranged in a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy to implement. The organization of gender according to a female-male binary is problematic, and at times, essentialist. Certain sections could be easily updated to current day issues (i.e., Women and Health to include the differential impact of the COVID crisis and the inequities across the global)

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written with clarity and provides adequate context for the terms used in each chapter.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent in its flow and organization. There is predictability in what the reader can expect chapter to chapter and the profiles add a refreshing change to the usual textbook format.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is divided in such a way that an instructor could use smaller reading sections to fit their approach to global women’s issues. I could even see the use of single chapters in courses across the curriculum (i.e., women and the media in a journalism course)

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics in the text are presented as expected and in order of the critical areas of concerns identified by the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action.

Interface rating: 5

I was able to read the book through the online interface in Safari with no significant issues. A minor navigation concern is when you click on a resource link that does not open in a new page.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not see any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

As mentioned above, and in another reviewer’s comments, the use of gender in the text as a strict female/male binary should be critiqued in the classroom.

Reviewed by Jeana Jorgensen, Instructor, Butler University on 2/8/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book seems fairly comprehensive in its global scope, though as other reviewers have noted, there is an almost exclusive focus on developing nations and the Global South, which might seem to imply that women in developed nations and the Global North are not still struggling. I do not believe there is an index or glossary, and there definitely should be one. I also did not see any references to the specific issues that Pacific Island/Polynesian women face.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

I believe some statistics are verging on outdated, but as far as providing a snapshot of the information within the last decade, this seems well done. Having specific numbers to point to when discussing global women's experiences - such as how one in three women worldwide has experienced abuse, assault, or sexual violence - is incredibly useful when teaching this subject. I like that there are brief author bios at the end of every section, so that students can get a sense of how the author's background might position them to approach any given topic.

This is minor, but in the chapter on women in the economy, the profiled activist was from Saudi Arabia, and the author failed to mention the highly restrictive laws that might have had some impact on why so few women were in the workforce (e.g. until the last year or so, it was illegal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia, and I imagine that would make it difficult to get to one's hypothetical job). Small quirks like this omission make me wonder if the content could be framed in a better way.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

As noted above, it would probably be helpful to update some of the statistics and demographic information in the near future. Since it's a somewhat long text, these updates might be difficult to implement.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is very readable and is written in plain language. The use of extensive quotes from personal narratives - when innovators in a given field, or survivors of a particular crisis, are interviewed - helps make the text even more accessible.

Consistency rating: 3

Overall the book is consistent; however, there are a couple minor issues that make it apparent that the book (which I read online) was once just a physical version (e.g. a reference to a page number in one of the supplementary sections, which would not exist in the online version). Also, it is unclear to me how the key terms at the top of every chapter were selected; some are names and some are concepts, while some seem drawn from the specific case studies and others seem crucial to understanding the topic at hand. There probably should have been a subject index at the end, too.

Additionally, I noticed that in some of the quizzes at the end of each chapter, the answer choices were numbered (1, 2, 3, etc.) but in the answer key they were letters instead (A, B, C, etc.). It's easy enough for the reader to figure out the discrepancy, but that also means it'd be an easy enough fix for the authors or editors.

Modularity rating: 5

I believe it would work well to assign a chapter or two at a time, in order to supplement other class materials. Students would not need to have read the preface or the whole rest of the book to get something out of individual chapters, since the chapters do not reference other chapters extensively. It would also be possible to take a more innovative approach to assigning the text, and have students read, for example, all the profiles of women leaders in the book to start a conversation about activism.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

There is consistent organization among the chapters, which is helpful, but there does not seem to be any clear reason as to why the chapters appear in the order that they do (or, further, why women and poverty is its own chapter apart from women in the economy, though I agree that women and poverty definitely needs to be covered extensively in a book like this one).

Interface rating: 5

I primarily read the book through the online interface, which functioned just fine. Reading it from my computer screen allowed me to see the pictures crisply and in color, and I'm not sure if the other interfaces provide that as easily.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not see any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The book is highly relevant - after all, it chronicles the problems that roughly half the world's population faces on a regular basis, to varying degrees of severity. However, I wish the authors had unpacked their use of gendered terms a bit more, since it can come across as essentializing and biologically deterministic to assume that there is a complete overlap between biological womanhood and social womanhood (not that any of these categories are set in stone). I would have also liked to see a little more attention to the struggles of transgender women globally, since in many cases under patriarchy, transmisogyny operates much the same as misogyny. I also wonder if it should simply be assumed that this book will contain traumatic and potentially triggering materials given the nature of the topic, or if specific sections should have a brief content note up top (e.g. "This section contains specific descriptions of sexual violence"). I understand that we cannot provide trigger warnings for everything our students may encounter in our classrooms or in the world, but given my knowledge of how trauma works, it's often helpful for a student with a trauma history to have a heads-up about whether material will be in roughly that ballpark or not, so the student can prepare and get some self-care lined up, or alternately, decide that it's not a good time (now or possibly ever) to engage with this topic, since flashbacks can be intensely painful and may derail a student's ability to be present enough to learn.

Reviewed by Michele Ren, Associate Professor, Radford University on 1/13/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

I teach an Intro to Women's and Gender Studies with a subtitle "Women in the World." Finding a text that is truly global -- not just the global north or the global south -- and easy for students to read/comprehend is difficult, likely because covering all women everywhere is an enormous task. I had high hopes for this text, but it is ultimately one of those (like *Half the Sky*) that calls itself global, but focuses mainly on developing nations. When students in an intro course read a text like this that claims to be global, but mostly covers "problems" in developing nations, it reinforces their ideas that sexism and sexist oppression are things that happen "in other countries" and not here in the United States.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

One of the copyright holders is the U.S. State Department and sources include the CIA. , which may explain why the United States is mostly left out of discussion of issues like "Violence Against Women" or "Women, Girls, and Armed Conflict." I like to teach my students that we need to amplify women's voices and understand the lenses through which those voices are filtered. The "voice" of an Iraqi refugee filtered through the U.S. State Department, for example, may not be entirely "authentic."

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Preface and overview are by Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Vereer; copyright is by, presumably, the first Obama State Department, which would make the text at least 8 years out of date. Updates from Kerry and the four subsequent Trump appointees should be easily obtained, but possibly not desirable.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is easy to navigate, readable, and visually appealing. Key terms are listed immediately after a brief intro to each chapter, giving readers a "heads up" in case there is something they might not know.

Consistency rating: 5

There is both a shared language and structure as you move through the text.

Modularity rating: 5

While structure and tone are consistent throughout the text, the reading is not necessarily scaffolded. Each of the 12 chapters could stand alone or be read in a different order without any sense of confusion as they do not necessarily refer backward or forward, rather they cover only what's in the chapter title.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The text uses a typical, thus easily recognizable, format: About, Intro/Preface, Chapters, Conclusion, Bibliography. While the chapters could stand alone, or be rearranged, the current order is fine. Though some topics like "Women and Poverty" (Chapter 1) could be placed closer to others, such as "Women in the Economy" (Chapter 6).

Interface rating: 4

While browser and/or format (online/PDF/.txt) might create a different experience for different users, I found the online version (using chrome) to be pleasant to navigate. I also opened the text in safari on an iPhone XR and had a similar experience, though the (left) margins in some cases were off a bit. The ability to increase font size was a nice feature. The editable .txt that I downloaded had some image issues. The first image, for example, seemed to be stretched a bit horizontally. The font changes on the first few pages were also a bit distracting, being an editable text, though, an instructor could easily change that.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

While I did not do a line-by-line edit, the text seemed to be mostly error free, though making decision-making one word seemed an odd choice.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Again, leaving most of the world's white women out of the text, as if violence against them, poverty, health concerns, etc. are not problems in the "West" is problematic, as is, filtering the voices and views of women in the developing world through the U.S. government.

Reviewed by Marsha Tongel, Associate Professor, Point Park University on 8/31/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book is comprehensive and covers in detail the issues affect women globally that emerged from the 4th U.N. World Conference on Women held in
Beijing, China in September of 1995. The range of issues discussed in the book is extensive. The new and extended version of this book added a chapter summary, key words, multiple choice questions, discussion questions, essay questions, and a list of additional resources to each chapter. What is missing is a subject index at the end of the book.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book accurately reports on the issues from the World Conference of Women and accurately reflects many of the issues that are of concern to women today.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The overall issues that are discussed in the book are still current and relevant concerns of women today. The statistical data, however, that is shared is a bit outdated.

Clarity rating: 5

The layout of the book is very easy to read and maneuver. The addition of actual case studies to support the issue being discussed shows the relevance and impact the issue has had on women as well as how women in various countries have begun to address the issue.

Consistency rating: 5

The framework is consistent from chapter to chapter. Each chapter begins with an overview as well as a summary and a listing of key terms. The issue and its importance to women is discussed. Profiles and projects that are relevant and support each issue follow the discussion. The chapter ends with various assessments (multiple choice questions, discussion question, essay questions) that can be used as well as additional resources that can be explored.

Modularity rating: 5

Chapters are easily readable and each could be considered a separate module. The material can be taken in sequence or reorganized as desired to meet course needs.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Very clear, easy to follow and to read. Each chapter follows the same format when addressing each issue. Text is broken up into segments. Pictures in each chapter help to support the issue as well as break up consistent text.

Interface rating: 5

The text has images but they actually support and do not detract from the intent of the book and the issues it discusses.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text refers to issues that affect women globally. As such, the book introduces the issue from various cultural perspectives of women.

Comments

This is a great resource book on the global issues affecting women. Although the book provides an overall good discussion of each issue and some cultural perspectives of each issue, it doesn't discuss in any detail some of the underlying conceptual frameworks that affect gender bias and which continue to support bias.

Reviewed by Aimee Richardson, Adjunct Faculty, American University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book is a comprehensive overview on an in depth subject. The author does a nice job of touching on one subject per chapter. This is perfect for an undergraduate intro class on Global Women's issues since most of the chapters can be an entire semester long course.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

For now the information appears to be accurate. Things change so quickly in this field that it is hard to remain accurate for most printed texts. I think this format allows better accuracy for this subject due to the ability to edit and add on information. I also think it is challenging to be unbiased on these issues, the writing of the content in and of itself is biased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

I think it is written in a way that necessary updates can be easily added in order for the text to stay relevant.

Clarity rating: 5

I love the style in which this book has been written, the combination of information, statistics, first hand stories and inspiration people in the field is ideal. It makes it easy to read and understand , even if the information is new..

Consistency rating: 5

It seems very consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

Each chapter is a perfect length. Within the chapter you can also break down the subheadings and assign accordingly with your class.However, none of the chapters are so long that they need to be broken down. It seems quite easy to reorganize.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

It flows very well and is completely logical.

Interface rating: 5

I had no problems with the interface.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Yeah, grammar is not my strength so.... Looked good to me.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This text did a terrific job of being culturally relevant and inclusive. The subject is one that needs to be so it is not surprising that the author brought in stories, examples and facts from several different cultures, SES, race, religion and genders.

Reviewed by Monika Sawhney, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I very strongly feel that as far as comprehensiveness is concerned, this book does a good job. I specialize in women's health and primarily work in the area of women and children with a special emphasis on girl child. What I really like about this book is that it covers varied areas related to women, such as education, health, media, and employment. Usually I come across books that focus on one or may 2-3 areas, but this book is different in the sense it provides material of different aspects of teaching or working on women issues.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

I would say that material mentioned in this book is more or less accurate. However, more data from various international data bases and other related sources could have supplemented the pictures and stories presented across the book.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Yes I would say the book is relevant and can be used for a longer period of time. Instructors planning to adapt this book will need to supplement information presented in this book along with data and other snippets from online sources.

Clarity rating: 5

One of the features I have liked about this book is the clarity of material being presented. One suggestion I will have for a book of this kind will be to have more stories and interviews from the beneficiaries. This will make the content even stronger and some thing that audiences will be able to relate to.

Consistency rating: 5

Overall the book maintain's its consistency. Though for some of the chapters where there are theoretical models available, the same could be added for future editions

Modularity rating: 5

As highlighted through my comments for earlier section, one feature that makes this book stand out is the different themes/disciplines/subject matter it presents in one book. Instructors looking to teach various aspects related to women can use this text just for that specific material they are interested in covering in their class.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

As an instructor and some one who is deeply committed to women issues, I like the organization/structure for the information presented in this book. Those looking to have in-class exercises or assignments on specific issues related to women, will benefit if appropriate databases information is presented across the text.

Interface rating: 4

I personally have liked some of the pictures and other graphics presented across the book. As mentioned in my earlier comments, I would prefer if there are interviews and more in-depth stories of real women/beneficiaries of various programs mentioned across this book.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not specifically find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The fact that this is a text book on Global Women's issue, it has done a good job of bringing examples of women issues from different parts of the planet. This also offers the audience/s to relate to issues women face across the planet and how policy makers, social workers, and public health professionals can learn from successful experiences else where. For example, the implementation of "Grameen bank" related programs based on the success it experiences in Bangladesh.

Comments

Just include some more databases information for specific issues for audiences that would be interested in working further on specific topics mentioned across the book.