The Cost of Being Female

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Description

The Cost of Being Female is 30 cents, say the authors of this new book on discrimination against women. They demonstrate their thesis by constructing an index that documents the costs of discrimination against women in five aspects of life: economic, political, social, education, and health. The index compares the costs for American women with those of women in Sweden, Norway, France and China, and measures the costs for three time periods: 1990s, 1950s, and the 19th century. The authors interviewed over 70 women, providing a human approach to the statistics of earnings, occupations, political participation, marriage, divorce, childrearing, education, and women's health. The women's narratives are living testimony to the experiences of the costs of being female.

Reviews

"The Cost of Being Female is a concise, well-organized guide to the pitfalls of being born a woman....[B]eing a woman is...expensive, both in terms of salary denied and the cost of poor education and health care. [This book] is not the place to go for historical insight or feminist political theory. Packed with information and to the point, it is more the Michelin guide to womanhood."-The Washington Post
Headlee and Elfin use a sociological approach to show the cost (disadvantage) of being female in major areas of life....A good resource book for sociology and women's studies collections.-Choice
The Cost of Being Female is a concise, well-organized guide to the pitfalls of being born a woman....[B]eing a woman is...expensive, both in terms of salary denied and the cost of poor education and health care. [This book] is not the place to go for historical insight or feminist political theory. Packed with information and to the point, it is more the Michelin guide to womanhood.-The Washington Post
"Headlee and Elfin use a sociological approach to show the cost (disadvantage) of being female in major areas of life....A good resource book for sociology and women's studies collections."-Choice

Author Bio

SUE HEADLEE is Assistant Professor of Economic Policy in the Washington Semester Program at American University. She is the author of The Political Economy of The Family Farm: The Agrarian Roots of American Capitalism (Praeger, 1991). MARGERY ELFIN is Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of History and Political Science at Hood College.