A World Full of Women - Softcover

This revision of A World Full of Women will appeal to instructors and students in anthropology, or any discipline looking for an engaging, cross-cultural approach to the study of women. "Reading this book is like sitting down for an intellectually stimulating, yet thoroughly comfortable, chat with the authors," according to one reviewer. Written by an anthropologist who has taught undergraduates for more than 30 years and designed the first official women's studies course in Louisiana, this book has been fueled by the explosion of research on women since the 1970s. Co-author, Monica Edelstein, adds a wealth of ethnographic experience, research, and activism with women of North Africa, the Middle East, and the United States, particularly immigrants, refugees, and healers. Another reviewer describes this text as "one of the few books that analyzes cultures through a gender lens...the book tackles and successfully dismisses many cultural-sexist illusions . . ."

A World Full of Women, 5/e

By: Martha Ward & Monica Edelstein

(Both of the University of New Orleans)

Basic Approach:

This revision of A World Full of Women will appeal to instructors and students in anthropology, or any discipline looking for an engaging, cross-cultural approach to the study of women. “Reading this book is like sitting down for an intellectually stimulating, yet thoroughly comfortable, chat with the authors,” according to one reviewer.

Author Martha Ward is an anthropologist who has taught undergraduates for more than 30 years, and designed the first official women's studies course in Louisiana. This book has been fueled by the explosion of research on women since the 1970s. Co-author Monica Edelstein adds a wealth of ethnographic experience, research, and activism with women of North Africa, the Middle East, and the United States, particularly immigrants, refugees, and healers.

Another reviewer describes this text as “one of the few books that analyzes cultures through a gender lens...the book tackles and successfully dismisses many cultural-sexist illusions . . .”

Highlights of the New Edition:

• New! Chapter 5, “Everyday Power: Women’s Agency, Authority, and Influence,” explores the diversity of women’s agency from Indonesia to West Africa to the United States-Mexico border. Students learn how women’s power is generated within matriarchal and patriarchal societies beyond domestic and political spheres.
• Transnational experiences of migrant, immigrant, and refugee women from Japan, Palestine, Mexico, and India paint an intricate picture of power in Chapter 5.
• “Everyday Power” creates a tighter focus on women in contemporary human populations, replacing the chapter on primates. Creates a natural segue between chapters on marriage patterns and gender segregation, beginning with a discussion of single mothers and ending with Palestinian refugees.
• Updated statistics on intimate partner violence and maternal mortality (Chapters 9 and 10) develop student critical thinking, empathy, and activism.
• Updated annotations on suggested books to read, located in every chapter, emphasize availability, readability, and relevance.
• Updated Glossary and Bibliography help maintain the currency of the text and give readers access to the latest research on anthropology of gender.
• The authors present their own Hurricane Katrina experiences and add valuable insights into women’s roles in surviving disasters (Introduction).