The No-Nonsense Guide to Women's Rights

No-Nonsense Guides

by Nikki van der Gaag, Nawal El Saadawi

How much has life really changed for women during the last decade? Has the womens movement affected women all over the world? Has it changed womens relationships with men? Nikki van der Gaag answers these questions with hard, sometimes disturbing, evidence. Many women have made huge leaps forwardin legal rights, political representation, employment, education, healthbut beneath the surface the statistics are shocking. Vivid testimonies from women and men around the world explain why, especially in this post-feminist age, womens rights are still very much an issue for men and women alike. “She has made a special effort to correct many of the misconceptions and biases related to the feminist movement, to link the liberation of women who constitute half of society to the liberation of men and to the dispossessed majority living on earth.” from the introduction by Nawal El Saadawi

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, History

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2004

Reviews

[Heather Montes Ireland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book packs a powerful punch against patriarchy. It's a slim, tiny volume that is chock full of statistics regarding women's issues worldwide. It's an easy read, especially for students who are new to the topic. I find it eminently *teachable* as it hits on some of the most pertinent topics in transnational feminist studies today, and it also provides tangible, digestible information without it being oversimplified. This little book can bring dense theoretical issues into sharp relief for anyone who needs a reminder as to the realities of women's lives everywhere in the world.

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The No-Nonsense Guides are handy, pocket-sized books that cover a range of topical themes. This one is focussed on women's rights and is packed full of useful facts and stats which makes it ideal as a reference guide to essays and dissertations. Nikki van der Gaag writes in a similar style to Naomi Klein and doesn't sugarcoat anything.

[Lydia Greenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work is a great primer to Women's Rights. Yes, it merely skims the surface and yes it seems a bit simplistic, but it is meant to be a short, to-the-point introduction to the issues women face across the globe.

[Roxanne Moadel-Attie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book demonstrates the critical issues for women using statistics and historical events.

[purplemagnolia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This great little book is, I must say, one of the best purchases I have made. It’s available from Trade Aid and costs around $22. Published in 2004, the book is still remarkably up to date and makes for a quick yet insightful read.

The book is broken down into 10 Chapters featuring titles such as; poverty, development and work; power, politics and law; literacy and learning: make learning your husband; and sexuality, relationships and old age; to name just a few. The book is paper back and light weight and at only 140 pages (about a centimetre thick), it won’t take all the space on your bookshelf!

As someone who considers herself to be a feminist I wasn’t sure whether I would learn much form this book. However, I need not have worried; this book contains plenty of interesting and new information regarding women’s rights. I found the chapter on ‘the new war on women’ to be especially interesting. In particular, the author draws some startling parallels between so called ‘third world countries’ and the United States, but I won’t tell you what they are…I’ll let you find out for yourselves.

The thing I like best about this book is that it provides a great overview of the entire field of women’s rights, which is a lot bigger than you might think! I also appreciated the fact that it was accessible but not overly simplistic; very well written.

I’d recommend this book to anyone with an interest in women’s rights or even just the well being of women. But before you write the book off as being feminist, consider this, if you believe that women deserve the same opportunities as men, you’re a feminist, and if you believe that women deserve to earn the same rate of pay as men for doing the same job, you’re a feminist.

In three words, this book is humanitarian, enjoyable, and valuable.

[ayanami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up to brush up on my knowledge of feminism. It's a very short book, I finished it in a couple hours. It gives you a general overview of the issues involved in women's rights but doesn't really go into things in a lot of detail. I found it rather simplistic but it does offer a lot of statistics and examples of how women have fought for their rights. A majority of the book covers the situation outside of North America, which is a good reminder that although things may seem pretty good in the west, women around the world are still being oppressed.

[Darius Daruvalla-riccio · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapters on education and environmentalism are very good. The focus is largely on developing countries and it does point out some things you don't think of and quite a few interesting stats. Overall it doesn't tell you much that you won't already know.

It had a big lack of intersectionality and analysis of the root causes of problems so I'm giving it 3 stars.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

a little too simplistic

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

We still have a long way to go along the road to gender equity.