TOPICS IN THE BOOK The Gender Gaps in Challenges Facing Farmers in Improved Bee Keeping: Case of the Maasai Community in Trans Mara, Narok County, Kenya Gender Gaps in Decision Making Power in Households: Case of Improved Bee Keeping among the Maasai Community in Trans Mara, Narok County, Kenya Making Microfinance Work for the Poor: Experiences of Women Slum Dwellers in Ghana Land Ownership as Symbol of Gender Power Relations in Gusii, Kenya: A Historical Perspective Teenage Pregnancies and Girls Education Capabilities in Nzambani Ward Kitui County in Kenya: School and Community Perspective

Despite recent advances in important aspects of the lives of girls and women, pervasive challenges remain. These challenges reflect widespread deprivations and constraints and include epidemic levels of gender-based violence and discriminatory laws and norms that prevent women from owning property, being educated, and making meaningful decisions about their own lives--such as whether and when to marry or have children. These often violate their most basic rights and are magnified and multiplied by poverty and lack of education. This groundbreaking book distills vast data and hundreds of studies to shed new light on deprivations and constraints facing the voice and agency of women and girls worldwide, and on the associated costs for individuals, families, communities, and global development. The volume presents major new findings about the patterns of constraints and overlapping deprivations and focuses on several areas key to women s empowerment: freedom from violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights, ownership of land and housing, and voice and collective action. It highlights promising reforms and interventions from around the world and lays out an urgent agenda for governments, civil society, development agencies, and other stakeholders, including a call for greater investment in data and knowledge to benchmark progress.

Women discuss their involvement in the struggle for the liberation of Tigray, in northern Ethiopia.