I read this book a little while back though I'm only just getting round to writing the review now. I thought that the book was good though seemed to jump around a little, not following enough of a thread.
It did encourage me to do some of my own research as I didn't necessarily agree with some of the things that were written in the book to suit the authors purpose. For example, although I'm not keen on Donald Trump, his comments about his daughter struck me more as tactless more than anything though it has been referenced in the book.
Similarly the Dalai Lama's comment about a female Dalai Lama needing to be attractive could possibly be taken out of context. The Dalai Lama has a very dry sense of humour and it is the kind of thing that he could have said in jest though still not the wisest thing to say.
I love that the film "The Queen of Katwe" was touched about though only for about a paragraph and I felt that this could have been expanded upon to let the reader know about the other amazing female chess players out there.
It is the kind of book that someone could wisely rewrite in a few years because different events will have happened between now and then that will either go for or against women.

A fact-filled in-depth description of the position of women in society, which I feel would be good for those relatively new to the topic.
Having been a feminist for forty years or so, I was rather excited to be reading this but in the end I was slightly disappointed in it. Yes, there were plenty of topics covered, but it felt more like a rather dry report than an interesting study.
I confess to feeling a similar sense of disappointment when reading a previous book by the author, On Liberty.
I also felt that there was not too much more to the book than one would pick up from reading a broadsheet daily.
I applaud the intention of the book and the author writes clearly, but I confess that I struggled to finish it.
Many thanks to the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

For Women intelligently covers a breadth of social and economic issues and throws a light on the huge disparities which still exist in health provision (African American women are 4 times more likely to die in childbirth in the USA and this has not improved in 20 years); in the workplace and in in the home. A fascinating and well-researched book for anyone interested in current affairs.

Of Women mainly catalogues the injustices that women still face in their day to day lives, despite Feminism being higher on the political and media agenda than ever. The most interesting aspect of this for me was how equal pay, currently championed by high-profile women in the West, is merely the tip of the iceberg in a world where too many women fight for basic access to education and healthcare. It is enlightening - and upsetting - to realise that so much is still to be done and there appears to be insufficient political will to achieve it. The only shortcoming I felt the book had was the lack of positive strategies to make things happen.

An interesting collection of essays and it gave me a new insight. I did have difficulty getting through it but the multicultural viewpoint was interesting as it didn't just focus on the normal points of view.

"It is autumn again. That shouldn't matter and yet somehow it does", starts Of Women and instantly I love this notion that we are involved in our world and its cycles far more than we imagine or than is mentioned. The weather and its personal associations becomes more relevant as Chakrabarti later on writes of how bailiffs are not meant to kick people out of their homes when it's raining.

I thought of this as I listened to a council meeting on our upcoming budget where our Finances Director Denise Murray and Deputy Mayor Asher Craig talked about bringing bailiff services in-house in a way of providing a more ethical service for families. They were shunning the inclusion of private companies who were just in it for the money. There was also an ever-increasing need for bailiffs.

Our council is battling the effects of austerity and the 90% reduction of our central government fund that helps us pay for local services such as roads and schools and charities and children in care and children in nurseries and community police officers and a myriad other functions. Bristol has to find a way to make up for £108 million of further cuts over the next five years and this is a direct result of government policies.

Yet, Of Women doesn't deal with that. The inequalities, subjugations and suffering of women are presented as some kind of inevitable vague structural outcome that is as amorphous as it is unnamed. Sales tax on tampons is criticised and yet the process and policy of its imposition -- it is in fact the lowest possible taxation the governments in power could impose after EU regulations on tax had been settled -- are not mentioned.

I am surprised at how disappointed and impressed I am by Of Women at the same time. It's a tough task to cover every theme that affects women and Chakrabarti does a pretty good job of identifying those at least. Each topic could be a book all of its own and the issues are in danger of being oversimplified when managed within only a few pages.

She also includes some personal observations and also statistics from international bodies in order to encompass the whole world. This isn't easy and either the ignorant or hypocritical nature of the assessments come shining through when she can state that the failure of Clinton (H) to come to power was the result of sexism and that much of the developing world's problems come from poverty and inequality, without equating US imperialist tactics with the cause and effect of these situations.

In the metaphorical activist's handbook, the weakest call to arms is that of 'someone should do something' and unfortunately, Chakrabarti's inability to delineate the forces that have led to women's inequality, and more importantly to class inequality, leads us directly to this statement.

Someone; somewhere.

The great invisible forces that she does not name are neoliberalism, the patriarchy, and US imperialism.

Chakrabarti laments the housing sector, the lack of mental health support, the elimination of free school meals and the school and social situations for many girls and women but does not state that neoliberal policies are specifically designed to strip money away from public services in order to benefit corporations and the 1%.

We have to rely on Oxfam, among others, for a better attack on neoliberalism,.

Those who advocate for the strictest neoliberal policies are the Conservative government and before them the coalition government (and 'New Labour'). The austerity program that slashes spending on public services, directly contributes to women's inequality and yet Chakrabarti's only mention of the Conservatives is to point out what a great friend Baroness Warsi is and how she has written about Islamic feminism. Nevermind that Warsi voted for tuition fees and for raising the amount to be paid. Nevermind that tuition fees disadvantage the caring professions and the women who are more likely to study locally rather than be able to travel.

Chakrabarti even mentions with no apparent sense of contradiction that in the movie I, Daniel Blake, with which Ken Loach quite explicitly calls out the 'conscious cruelty' [YouTube] of the Conservative Government policies, a woman has to decide between food for her children and sanitary products for herself.

The call for better public services is made through Of Women over and over again: "Worldwide, women have even greater need of safe streets, public transport, adequate social and affordable housing, policing and access to real justice"; "Work in the caring professions should be better valued and remunerated and we should aspire to greater gender balance therein"; "we need to the see children, the elderly and the disabled as our shared societal responsibility"; "Police and law enforcement authorities around the globe should be better resourced"; "the struggle for gender justice asks for a social engagement of a completely different order. It is not a 'single issue'. It cannot be separate from politics and economics in the deepest and broadest sense."

Chakrabarti says "Gender injustice is structural, social and economic" but does not refer to what those policies are and how to overcome them.

We come away thinking 'something needs to be done by someone' but she provides no roadmap for how things got to this state and, therefore, there is no implication for further action. This is really a work of pointing out inequalities and then stepping aside and saying 'nothing to do with me'.

The most damning part of the book, for me, was the lack of discussion on Hilary Clinton's role while in power. When a woman can attract "upwards of $225,000 for a speech to Goldman Sachs" then she is not just an ordinary woman who is the victim of sexism.

Journalist John Pilger writes on the fake feminism of Hillary Clinton, and this is ever more relevant in Of Women, because it has a worldwide approach. Chakrabarti tries to cover all women.

In The New York Times, there was a striking photograph of a female reporter consoling Clinton, having just interviewed her. The lost leader was, above all, "absolutely a feminist". The thousands of women's lives this "feminist" destroyed while in government - Libya, Syria, Honduras - were of no interest.

Chakrabarti writes about Isis and the oppression of women and yet as we read from Pilger:

The leaked emails of Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta, revealed a direct connection between Clinton and the foundation and funding of organised jihadism in the Middle East and Islamic State (IS). The ultimate source of most Islamic terrorism, Saudi Arabia, was central to her career.

[emphasis mine]

The article by Pilger is worth reading in full, as are his other works. The role of a woman who had a hand in destabilising the Middle East and causing untold suffering for millions of refugees is left out of Of Women. Instead, we hear just of the refugees who face sexual abuse and danger in their passage out of their torn countries. The author talks of mothers putting young children in boats to get them out of the country, without knowing if they'll ever see them again, but not once does she talk about the causes that led to these refugees. This is an appalling and offensive omission.

Chakrabarti talks about poverty in Colombia without mention of US imperialism's hand in wreaking havoc in that country. There is no sense that female inequality has a structural basis from her writing, and this lack of engagement with context limits what we think we can do. If inequality just happens, rather than is a byproduct of policies worldwide that seek to destroy public services and infrastructure in pursuit of profit for the 1% then there is nothing we can do. We can wait for the affirmative action lists and hope that men stop hitting women after being educated for a few years.

Of Women fails women in a way that the world has failed us since politics/Politics began. Our private struggles are not linked to politics at the structural or public level. Conservative and neoliberal policies and US / UK imperialism harm women all around the world. We need better ways of saying this and better methods to combat it.

My solutions are simple; information and engagement with political processes starting at the lowest levels. Then vote the Tories out and -- after the Labour Party are in power -- get the Greens in. [I'd say vote Green right from the start but people don't have enough faith yet.] Then we can have equality. The Labour Party's support for neoliberalism gave us the Tories' version of austerity although now apparently Corbyn will change that. We'll see.

All I know is that the policies that put people on the street are those same policies that put refugees on the boats and let them drown as they crossed. Oxfam and much of the world has a name for it but Of Women does not.

Of Women was provided by NetGalley for review. Published 26 October 2017.

Passionate, upbeat and delivered with a clarity of expression, this book may deliver very little that's new on the polemic, but it will provide an excellent starting point for discussion in those who already embrace the need for equality.

There might not be much that is new in this book as some reviewers have said, but it is an excellent introduction to feminism in the current political climate. I personally found some of the statistics quite surprising and learned much from the clear narrative developed by Ms Chakrabarti. The book is divided into chapters by theme and each covers various political and geographical areas. I had no idea that as late as 2017, 86 per cent of people employed in the American private sector have no access to paid maternity or paternity leave, and therefore one in four new mothers are back at work within two weeks of giving birth. This is in America, a supposedly well developed nation. But the UK can't sit back and gloat given our poor performance on equal pay. This is still news because of what is coming out at the BBC.

Ms Chakrabarti does not shy away from difficult topics like religion and health. She is saddened and angered at the increasing media attention on the burka, the niqab and the hijab with possible bans, saying, "You may argue that you are criminalising the symbols of women's oppression, but you are in fact criminalising the woman and perhaps even ultimately forcing her to choose between your official prison and the informal prison of her own home."

This is a well written, well researched pulling together of many disparate strands and it is a very enlightening read. Even if you think you know about women's oppression, seeing all the data in the same place so starkly will open your eyes in some way.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Of Women attracted me partly because I was hopeful that I would learn something new. Upon reading, I was surprised as I had made some assumption that this would be a dry academic text. I was wrong. This book is well written and with compassion and insight. The story Of Women: In the 21st Century weaves a contemporary literary tapestry that examines the lives of women and men, girls and boys and the way social constructs and stereotypes challenge growth of communities, families and individuals. Highly recommended reading.

Of Women is a fascinating study of injustices and inequality throughout cultures and the world, not just for women but everyone. Chakrabarti describes situations quite factually and without judgement which allows you to decide on your own opinions, it felt refreshing not to be led. I found myself doing my own research on people that she has spoke of. I’m so pleased I was able to read this book through netgalley as I might have missed it otherwise.

I couldn't really get into this book, because it just seemed to be a big jumble of thoughts and opinions without a structure or necessary meaning.

A passionate analysis of the position of women in society across the globe that considers what changes need to be made to reduce inequality and human rights abuses. There are some disturbing statistics – from numbers of girls denied access to education to sexual assault statistics. Shami Chakrabarti, as former director of Liberty, a barrister, and Shadow Attorney General, is well positioned to put forward meaningful arguments for the necessity for change. This is a thought-provoking work with the data to back it up.

I suppose it was inevitable that at some point renowned human rights campaigner Shami Chakrabarti would want to say her piece on gender issues. Of Women (review copy from Penguin) is that book: a take on modern, intersectional feminism, grounded in the language of human rights.

Of Women is a classic articulation of the principles of third-wave feminism, allowing for and embracing the ideals of diversity and individuality, in a way that accommodates differences of emphasis and culture. As you would expect, this is a book that is very strong on the interaction between gender issues and other protected characteristics, and with a strong global focus. The whole is backed up with a strong evidence base and good argument. Although each chapter is focused on a particular theme (home, work etc), Chakrabarti draws out the inter-connections between these issues well.

Where Of Women is weaker, though, is in its solution to many of these issues. Chakrabarti identifies the way gender issues harm men as much as they do women, but offers little in the way of solution. And apart from some brief reflections about her own family history of migration and her mother, there is little here that is personal. And at times Chakrabarti descends into the party political in a way that serves to undermine the arguments that she is making.

This is a book that articulates the arguments and evidence for third-wave feminism well, but adds little that is new to the public discourse.

Goodreads rating: 3*

A little disappointed by this. After seeing Chakrabarti speak on platforms such as BBC Questiontime, I was expecting more of a passionate, fiery account. Thought-provoking but not particularly original.

A really important book, but not one to be hurried or read lightly.

A book that is well researched and well illustrated and tells us more than we ever realised there was to be known about the feminine gender and what that means today. And what it implies across the many cultures of the world.

We are reminded of what people what choose if they could only have one child in the very beginning of the book -over-overwhelmingly a male child. And what this then implies if we could (legally) choose only one embryo to carry and one child to raise and keep. The missing female millions of the world's population.

And the continuing problems of violence against women and female children, from cutting, early and forced marriages, abuse, religious/cultural doctrines that mean that women no longer are more than a 'sack' once married (see Antigone and Me for this description in Albania), and thus have not recognised the human right of equality for all, regardless of gender, sexuality or belief.

Whilst much of the book is a sorrowful read, Shami ends on a positive note, believing that far greater equality is within reach - but note that she does not say full equality, and I believe that this may , unfortunately, be true.

Of Women is best described as a detailed examination of what it looks like to be a woman alive in the 21st century. Shami Chakrabati constructs a diverse picture of the experience of women across the world, examining work, birthing issues, education, faith, politics and more.

The book itself feels very current and I was pleased to read it so soon after publication. Chakrabati discusses the British General Election in 2017, Trump and other ongoing issues, using examples from across this year. One particularly highlight was the section discussing the interaction between Trump and May, in comparison to Trump and Merkel earlier this year.

Thankfully this book does not just focus on the situation for women in western societies. Instead, Chakrabati goes to great length to give a broad perspective of what life is like across the world. Chakrabati celebrates the small progresses that have been made across the world, but shares stories and statistics that, in places, make grim reading. Of the research she undertook, she writes, “It has been a sobering, sad and at times even enraging experience to read and hear of the lot of too many women and girls and boys and men the world over.” This decisive passion for equality and diversity is convicting. In addition, the notable degree of balance that Chakrabati holds is here evident. This is about humanity and she is ever willing to discuss the difficulties men have where necessary.

It’s hard to not disagree with Chakrabati and her well researched writings – we have not done enough to create a more equal world for men and women. The text is enhanced by stories from Chakrabati’s own life. At times it does feel as though what is being communicated is a lot of information, with the ‘what to do about it’ message not fully arriving until the conclusion. This, perhaps should be seen as a place where Of Women thrives. It paints a very detailed picture. Indeed, information and education are often what is needed to cause people to understand and respond and ultimately for society to move forward together. As a man I know it is vital for me to read and listen to these stories and statistics. I would therefore deem this book to be a significant read both now at the end of 2017 and on into the future.

This is a powerful read, even for the most fierce of feminists (and I count myself among them). There was nothing here that was entirely new to me, but Chakrabarti places a world of agony in a series of well-proportioned, themed essays which break the reality down with a mix of real life stories, statistics and research. It's an accessible read, but maybe a little tinged with the sting of academia, but it's not less powerful for that.

I enjoyed reading this precisely because it stepped outside the basics of western feminism and reached for something more. Commentary on sex-selective abortions, widow inheritance in the developing world, rights of trans women (so often denied) and an examination of feminism in the major world faiths were all really refreshing.

The book can't cover everything, of course- women having access to adequate sanitary products and the developing world commercial enterprises to create such a future, aren't discussed, nor does the author consider environmental feminism and the long term future. Again though, this isn't a criticism, more a note that the book could easily have a series of sequels covering the lesser known realities of just existing as a woman in the 21st century.

The author's writing demonstrates a lot of optimism for the future she wants to build, one where quotas become unnecessary and the equality we seek delivers the best possible life for everyone. You can't help but be carried on the wave of her positivity.

What an enlightening, terrifying, informative book. There are things we just never consider. This book makes us think about them

In this book, Chakrabati lives up to her reputation as an ardent supporter of women's rights. Some of the chapters were quite disturbing, especially the one highlighting the many millions of missing women in the world killed at birth because they weren't boys..
Her arguments are passionately written and are thought provoking for all the right reasons.
Sadly it will be a few more generations before the inequality between the sexes is resolved. Hopefully this book will speed up the process.

Another informed and well argued book covering feminism, the current issues & battles for equality and the importance of diversity in society. Divided in to chapters covering feminism in areas such as health & reproduction, work, wealth & religion this covers world matters and is well detailed but presented in an easy to read and interesting approach.