Women’s Issues for a New Generation: A Social Work Perspective

How do you hook a Millennial student into caring about women’s issues when feminism has been declared dead for decades? Written in an engaging style that promotes critical thinking, Women’s Issues for a New Generation is intended for freshman- and sophomore-level undergraduates who have never heard of Mary Wollstonecraft or Anita Hill. The interdisciplinary text includes three major sections: women in the U.S., women from diverse groups (e.g., Native American and disabled), and women in the global arena. It also stresses the inclusion of men in topics such as body image, since women’s issues are really issues that affect everyone. Other striking features included the contemporary debates (e.g., War on Women and Hillary Clinton’s ambitions) and the current issues such as human trafficking. Textbooks on gender and women’s studies often emphasize theory with the assumption that students already know about women’s history, the pay gap, and other basic information; Women’s Issues for a New Generation serves as a reader-friendly bridge to more advanced analysis of women and gender. Written by a social worker, this textbook applies social work values and the strength perspective to anyone who is fighting gender inequality.