Discrimination: Home

"Not only timely but profoundly important and a must-read."--Jackie Jones, Professor of Feminist Legal studies, University of the West of England, Bristol, UKThe World Bank's enormous global project entitled Women, Business and the Law is the basis for many of the amazing findings presented in this startling volume. A systematic survey of 173 countries around the world was undertaken, and each economy was evaluated in terms of the answers to 47 questions concerning the rights of women in that locale. Typical examples of the 47 questions include: Can a woman, whether married or single, apply for a passport in the same way as a man? Can she travel outside the country? Can she sign a contract? Are there criminal sanctions for sexual harassment? There are 40 other equally pertinent questions asked.Astonishingly, the survey revealed a direct correlation between how many freedoms women enjoyed and how much prosperity was enjoyed by that particular country. This priceless and pioneering book proves irrefutably, once and for all, that freedom for women equals prosperity for all.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "In her book, Melinda tells the stories of the inspiring people she's met through her work all over the world, digs into the data, and powerfully illustrates issues that need our attention--from child marriage to gender inequity in the workplace." -- President Barack Obama "The Moment of Lift is an urgent call to courage. It changed how I think about myself, my family, my work, and what's possible in the world. Melinda weaves together vulnerable, brave storytelling and compelling data to make this one of those rare books that you carry in your heart and mind long after the last page." -- Brené Brown, Ph.D., author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Dare to Lead "Melinda Gates has spent many years working with women around the world. This book is an urgent manifesto for an equal society where women are valued and recognized in all spheres of life. Most of all, it is a call for unity, inclusion and connection. We need this message more than ever." -- Malala Yousafzai "Melinda Gates's book is a lesson in listening. A powerful, poignant, and ultimately humble call to arms." -- Tara Westover, author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Educated A debut from Melinda Gates, a timely and necessary call to action for women's empowerment. "How can we summon a moment of lift for human beings - and especially for women? Because when you lift up women, you lift up humanity." For the last twenty years, Melinda Gates has been on a mission to find solutions for people with the most urgent needs, wherever they live. Throughout this journey, one thing has become increasingly clear to her: If you want to lift a society up, you need to stop keeping women down. In this moving and compelling book, Melinda shares lessons she's learned from the inspiring people she's met during her work and travels around the world. As she writes in the introduction, "That is why I had to write this book--to share the stories of people who have given focus and urgency to my life. I want all of us to see ways we can lift women up where we live." Melinda's unforgettable narrative is backed by startling data as she presents the issues that most need our attention--from child marriage to lack of access to contraceptives to gender inequity in the workplace. And, for the first time, she writes about her personal life and the road to equality in her own marriage. Throughout, she shows how there has never been more opportunity to change the world--and ourselves. Writing with emotion, candor, and grace, she introduces us to remarkable women and shows the power of connecting with one another. When we lift others up, they lift us up, too.

This book uses the world of sports in order to reveal the complicated history of gender, sexuality, race, and social justice while connecting those stories to today's athletes. It highlights the ways sports often contribute to inequalities, but also how they can help make the world more accepting. Have you ever wondered why most cheerleaders are girls? It didn't used to be that way. Up until the early twentieth century, all cheerleaders were actually boys. And why do some athletes, like Caster Semenya, have to prove they're women while there's no testing for men? Why do athletes like Megan Rapinoe and Colin Kaepernick use sports as a platform for social justice, and should they? These questions and more are examined in Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy: The Evolution of Gender, Identity, and Race in Sports. Robyn Ryle uses the world of sports to examine the history, controversy, and current conversations around sexuality, race, and social justice, bringing in the stories of today's athletes to highlight where things stand in the present. Topics covered include gender segregation, gender testing, transgender athletes, sexuality, homophobia, globalization, race, and activism. Throw Like a Girl, Cheer Like a Boy shows the great strides that have been made in the sports world recently, but there are still questions that remain and work that needs to be done. This book brings to attention the ways in which sports can contribute to inequalities, while also demonstrating how sports can help create a more just world for everyone.

Women in today's advanced capitalist societies are encouraged to "lean in." The media and government champion women's empowerment. In a cultural climate where women can seemingly have it all, why do so many successful professional women--lawyers, financial managers, teachers, engineers, and others--give up their careers after having children and become stay-at-home mothers? How do they feel about their decision and what do their stories tell us about contemporary society? Heading Home reveals the stark gap between the promise of gender equality and women's experience of continued injustice. Shani Orgad draws on in-depth, personal, and profoundly ambivalent interviews with highly educated London women who left paid employment to take care of their children while their husbands continued to work in high-powered jobs. Despite identifying the structural forces that maintain gender inequality, these women still struggle to articulate their decisions outside the narrow cultural ideals that devalue motherhood and individualize success and failure. Orgad juxtaposes these stories with media and policy depictions of women, work, and family, detailing how--even as their experiences fly in the face of fantasies of work-life balance and marriage as an egalitarian partnership--these women continue to interpret and judge themselves according to the ideals that are failing them. Rather than calling for women to transform their feelings and behavior, Heading Home argues that we must unmute and amplify women's desire, disappointment, and rage, and demand social infrastructure that will bring about long-overdue equality both at work and at home.