International Handbook on Gender Roles

Book excerpt: This valuable and unique reference surveys and synthesizes information on gender roles in more than thirty countries from around the world. Each chapter is devoted to a single country, and the chapters are arranged in alphabetical order for ease of use. All of the chapters are written from the perspective of experts who have lived and worked in the countries profiled. To foster cross-national comparisons, each chapter follows the same format, including an introduction and contextual overview; gender roles in infancy and childhood, school years, young adulthood, adulthood, and old age; and a summary and conclusions. The design of the chapters traces the development of gender roles across the life-cycle and affords an additional opportunity for comparing data. This reference will be of interest to anyone concerned with gender issues, psychology, sociology, and anthropology.