"The Atlas of Women" by Joni Seager is an analytical map of the situation of women in the world which is detailed and which allows to take into consideration various themes: work, health, inequality, marriage, abortion, wealth, poverty ... But not only: other areas of absolute importance are also taken into consideration, such as, for example, the recognition (or not) of countries of gender identity, homosexual marriage (or civil union).

This book therefore allows us to visualize the disparities but also the achievements present in the world through data and graphs.

I consider it a book for being "educated" feminists. Let me explain: I am of the opinion that it is very important to keep informed, updated, educated precisely, on such sensitive issues to be informed and responsible citizens of the world, aware of the world in which we live. Only through knowledge can we hypothesize and try to create a better world.

Nonostante i cambiamenti politici profondi che porterà questa pandemia, le disuguaglianze di genere nel mondo sono ancora lontane dalla risoluzione, anzi rischiano di inasprirsi. I dati e i numeri, al contrario delle storie, sono impossibili da mettere in discussione: l’Atlante di Joni Seager, ex consulente ONU e professoressa emerita di geografia e Global Studies, è arrivato anche in Italia, riportando l’attenzione sulla geografia di genere. ilLibraio.it ha intervistato l'autrice

The completely updated and revised fifth edition of this groundbreaking work couldn’t be more timely—and it’s a safer gift than a pink pussy hat. Seager, who’s consulted on several global gender and environmental policies with the UN, provides a wealth of up-to-date information on how women are living today across continents and cultures. —Elizabeth Anne Hartman

For anyone engaged in writing, campaigning about, or just plain needing to know, this book has done the work for you and presented it in an accessible and engaging way.

Full of statistics, knowledgable data-breakdowns and smart infographics, the easy read this atlas is belies the enormous effort and dedication behind the research. Just packed with solid information and intelligent analysis.

I’d go on, but the publisher’s page says it all. For everything you’d rather not know, but need to. And for some good news on women’s lives, BUY The Women’s Atlas  for everyone you know.

The Women’s Atlas is a unique and select Atlas that has been superbly researched and presented. It shows a global view of women’s lives around the world and gives statistics to support the understanding of the main issues that face women. The research is current and is interesting as well as challenging. There are many aspects of injustice which are not being dealt with, and the facts show where and how this is happening.

Some of the headings for the teasing out of issues are Health, Education, Power, Work and Body Politics. Under the heading of Household Size, we see a map of the world with colours denoting households with less than 3 people, and 6 people and over. Australia has fewer than 3 people in a house as an average. We also learn that in Sweden, 52% of all households have only one person. Women comprise the majority of single person households.

There are pages of data showing things such as “Dress Offensive.” The actual percentage of people who agree that women should choose their own clothing is varied. In Tunisia, 56% of people say yes, while in Egypt the number is just 14%. Honour killings and Justified beatings were also voted on, and in Ethiopia, 68% of people agreed with the practice.

An interesting page shows the location of the greatest number of births in the world. The highest rates are in Nigeria, Somalia and Mali. The lowest birth rates are in Hong Kong, Portugal and Singapore. Moving to sport, there is a section on Women in the Olympics. In 1900, there were just 2% of women involved, compared with 45% in 2016.  Another page discusses cosmetics. It shows that personal care products often contain dangerous substances such as parabens and neurotoxins. The skin whitening products sold to women contain Mercury and steroids, and in the USA, many cosmetics manufactured are unregulated.

Looking at the statistics for women in the work force is surprising. Australia, China and Canada, along with Denmark, Norway and Sweden have 70% or more women who work. India and Mexico, along with countries in North Africa, have fewer than 30% of women working for pay.

The amount of data and statistics gathered for this Atlas is enormous. Already it is out of date, as the numbers were obtained in 2016. However, no other book has so comprehensively shown the information about women as raw data and this makes it a valuable resource. The presentation of maps demonstrating numbers by colour and the following pages of explanation, is well done. This will be the basis for many a policy discussion and should be available for all to see.

On this book there’s a quote from Catherine Mayer, Co-Founder of the Women’s Equality Party: “The most important book that will be published this year” and it’s probably one of the most important books to be published EVERY year. All the information we maybe turn our faces away from, not wanting to think about it, all the inequality and inequity, all the dreadful ways people are treated, whether, in fact, they’re women, LGBTQI, non-gender-binary, trans, poor or refugees is presented here in clear, all-too-easy-to-read graphics, beautifully presented and backed up with solid research and referencing. It’s not an easy book to read per se and it’s not a laugh a minute, bringing Christmas cheer to all, etc., but it’s a very important read indeed. Described in the introduction as “a feminist remapping of the world through the lens of taking women’s experiences seriously,, although it’s an annual publication, it seems very, very relevant this year.

It’s a survey of the most up-to-date statistics available on a huge number of measures affecting women, from life expectancy to poverty, health to cosmetic surgery, ability to vote to years in school, participation in sport to dowry killings. The information is set out in wide sections which have an avowedly feminist stance (“Keeping women in their place”; “Body politics”) and flow neatly from one to the next. Most of the information and measures are about things you kind of know in the back of your head but don’t (want to) think about and don’t know in detail, although of course with some surprises. But it’s sobering stuff when it’s laid out in front of you.

You could say, as I implied above, that this should be a book about general inequality. However, there’s a quotation in the introduction from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which makes it clear why the specific concentration on women was chosen originally:

to choose the vague expression human rights is to deny the specific and particular problem of gender. It would be a way of pretending that it was not women who have, for centuries, been excluded. It would be a way of denying that the problem of gender targets women. That the problem was not about being human, but specifically about being a female human. For centuries, the world divided human beings into two groups and then proceeded to exclude and oppress one group. IT is only fair that the solution to the problem should acknowledge that.

The book encourages an intersectional and world view. It very carefully covers the experiences overtly of women who are not white, cis-gendered, straight and middle-class (although some of the experiences are of these people, who constitute my demographic group), thus answering one of the main criticisms of the feminist movement, especially at this time of identity politics. As much if not more attention is paid to marginalised women, women from the global South, women of colour and of varied sexualities in the global North, too, and nothing is ever taken for granted, but everything is explained and given examples. No particular countries are concentrated on either, but a good balance, although obviously some issues, such as the control over women in places such as Saudi Arabia and the massive racial inequalities in North America, crop up over and over again.

It’s hard to describe the graphics in words, but they’re big, bold, easy-to-read and varied throughout the book, with inventive ways of recording numbers on every page. There’s a long and non-standard running track showing women’s participation in various sports was introduced at the Olympics (1900 for tennis and golf; 1984 for the marathon; 2016 for rugby). Compacts, eyeshadow palettes and lipsticks show the big business of beauty; pots and bottles the toxic substances in beauty products. Little razor blades represent the prevalence of female genital mutilation in a hard-hitting graphic. Some of the statistics are truly horrifying: 40% of women in South Africa will be raped. 520 million women can’t read (women’s literacy rates are almost always lower than men’s). 58% of young adults newly infected with HIV are women. In the Afghan penal code, a man convicted of an “honour” killing after finding his wife committing adultery cannot be sentenced to more than 2 years’ imprisonment.

It’s not all doom and gloom. There’s a lovely list of the pioneers in “Beyond the binary” including Bolivia with its Gender Identity Law, Australia where you can choose X for your gender or sex on birth certificates and passports, and India and Nepal which both have an official third gender recognition. Pioneers are often recognised in other graphics, too: a big effort is made to celebrate progress as well as to record awfulness.

The sources are all well and clearly presented in the back of the book in nine pages of closely packed text, and there’s a good and clear index to this book that’s not an easy read, but an essential one, for all genders and all ages.

Joni Seager is a professor of Global Studies in Boston and a feminist geographer and global policy expert, who is a consultant to the United Nations on gender and environmental policy. Mention should also be made of Myriad Editions, the publisher, who she thanks in her introduction: they’re a women-run small publisher.

This reference guide to the status of women around the world published an updated edition this year, essential for those looking for statistics to back up their arguments. Its stark facts and inviting graphics torpedo myths about certain issues being limited to developing or Third World nations, comparing practices and numbers on all populated continents. (For example, when the book was released in early November, the proportion of women in government in the US was approximately the same of that in Kyrgyzstan.) It shows how and where we’ve seen social advancement, where it’s sorely lacking, and in what ways it’s wildly unbalanced based on country, race, or sexuality. If you’re looking for the story of women, you can’t get more global than this.

Seager has already released four editions of her comprehensive guide to the status of women across the globe; this updated fifth edition shares the most recent statistics, rendered textually and in easily interpretable graphics. Chapters cover everything from “body politics” to “property and policy,” and connections are drawn in surprising and often disturbing ways for anyone who may have constructed a complacent or simple narrative about how the world works for women.

“In the world of women, there are few ‘developed’ nations. Looking at the world through the experiences of women raises questions about the validity of conventional distinctions between ‘developed’ and ‘underdeveloped’ countries: women hold virtually the same proportion of representation in elected governments in Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan, and the USA; the indifference of the state to the murder of indigenous women in Canada, Yazidi women in Iraq, and maquiladora women in Mexico offers a sharp rebuke to the notion of the modern state; married women in South Korea, the UAE, and Malawi all need their husbands’ approval for an abortion. These may seem to be cheap shots – glib comparisons that don’t acknowledge the real advances in women’s lives. But for the women living under these realities, it is glib to say that things are getting better for women somewhere else. A rising tide does not necessarily lift all boats. Women do not automatically share in broad social advances — unless there is a commitment to ensure social equity.”

Seager takes us through how discrimination is measured, and which countries have segregated workforces and “marry-your-rapist” laws. She deals with equity and intersectionality in all its forms, going “beyond the binary” and trying not to create a monolithic message. If you want to remain informed for yourself or find material for the most hard-hitting debate, The Women’s Atlas will provide it in spades.

I just finished this really cool book! .
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Book Chat: The Women’s Atlas by Joni Seager is a collection of charts and maps depicting statistics about women from health to government involvement, work to education and so much more! .
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It was so fascinating to learn more about women around the world. It was obvious to see where improvements have been made and where we need to see more. The graphics were really cool and easy to read.
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I found it really interesting how many countries the West tends to view as ‘backwards’ are actually further ahead in many areas concerning women then we in the West are. I know personally, I found it absolutely ridiculous that Canada has no national legislation on making sure that a percentage of our government is filled by women but several countries most would consider ‘behind’ have actual legislation. .
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