Assembles, collates, and analyzes data bearing on trends in American education. The author presents the basic data on school enrollment, retention, and attainment, indicating changes in the educational characteristics of the population and comparable time-series statistics on teachers and school finances reflecting change within the school system itself. Dr. Ferriss then relates these data to a statement of educational goals set some ten years ago, utilizing the data to provide an assessment of progress toward those goals.

In the pathbreaking tradition of Backlash and The Time Bind, The Conflict, a #1 European bestseller, identifies a surprising setback to women's freedom: progressive modern motherhood Elisabeth Badinter has for decades been in the vanguard of the European fight for women's equality. Now, in an explosive new book, she points her finger at a most unlikely force undermining the status of women: liberal motherhood, in thrall to all that is "natural." Attachment parenting, co-sleeping, baby-wearing, and especially breast-feeding—these hallmarks of contemporary motherhood have succeeded in tethering women to the home and family to an extent not seen since the 1950s. Badinter argues that the taboos now surrounding epidurals, formula, disposable diapers, cribs—and anything that distracts a mother's attention from her offspring—have turned childrearing into a singularly regressive force. In sharp, engaging prose, Badinter names a reactionary shift that is intensely felt but has not been clearly articulated until now, a shift that America has pioneered. She reserves special ire for the orthodoxy of the La Leche League—an offshoot of conservative Evangelicalism—showing how on-demand breastfeeding, with all its limitations, curtails women's choices. Moreover, the pressure to provide children with 24/7 availability and empathy has produced a generation of overwhelmed and guilt-laden mothers—one cause of the West's alarming decline in birthrate. A bestseller in Europe, The Conflict is a scathing indictment of a stealthy zealotry that cheats women of their full potential.

How does the status of women in different cultures actually compare with that of men? How does this position vary from one realm—religious, political, economic, domestic, or sexual—to another? To examine these questions, Martin King Whyte draws on a cross-cultural sample of 93 preindustrial societies throughout the world. His analysis describes women's roles in historical perspective, offering a much-needed foundation for feminist scholarship as well as provocative thoughts about the future. To determine why women fare better in some societies than others, Professor Whyte compares data from cultures ranging from small, preliterate hunting bands to the capitals of the Inca and Roman empires. This ethnographic material makes possible a systematic review of the diverse roles of women and also enables the author to test many of the theories advanced to explain the situation of women today. Some of the specific questions considered are: Does male supremacy have its origins in the hunting way of life of our distant ancestors? Are women always inferior to men? Do women have superior status in cultures where they produce much food and thereby play an important economic role? Has the position of women improved over the course of human evolution? Originally published in 1978. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Many difficulties have been encountered by researchers attempting to assess women's status in contemporary societies. One major obstacle has to do with the problems encountered in developing indices of status that can be used as objective measures of women's position. Due to such obstacles, many, if not most, studies of women's status have concentrated on qualitative analyses of single cultures or culture areas, making comparisons across societies unsystematic and, therefore, of limited applicability. Yet it is just such systematic studies that are required if the conditions per- petuating women's status around the world are to be identified and changed. This work presents a first attempt to develop measures of woemen's status, using existing statistics, that are applicable across nations and make possible comparisons in time and space. This vilume reviews the literature on the determinants of women's status in con- temporary societies, analyzes the range of variation in women's position in the public sector, provides quantitative measures of women's status in the political, economic, edicational, and family spheres, and identifies factors important in explaining and predicting women's position on a world wide scale.

Compares conditions for women around the world on issues such as health, employment, marriage and divorce, literacy, and education.

Since 1945 more than 20 international legal instruments dealing specifically with women have been modified or consummated, reflecting a growing international consensus on issues concerning women's role in society. This book is the first complete collection and examination of this group of documents. Dr. Hevener analyzes each of the agreements and assesses its likely impact on the legal status of women. Categorizing the documents according to their goals, she demonstrates the broad range of economic, social, and political concerns they cover and evaluates contemporary patterns and future needs they reveal. The book includes a table of ratifications organized by country and region.