World events continue to reveal the importance of understanding how women live across continents and cultures:

Using maps, text, and other graphics this eye-opening book employs up-to-the-minute research and data to show what shifts have occurred in the ten years since the first edition was published — the strides made by women and the distance still to be travelled. She explores the current status of women in relation to key issues including: equality; women at works; the culture of beauty; women in the global economy; women's health; feminism; household trends; lesbian rights; domestic violence; women in government; and motherhood. Author: Joni Seager.

Contents: 40 chapters in seven parts: I: Women in the World • II: Families • III: Birthrights • IV: Body Politics • V: Work • VI: To Have and Have Not • VII: Power • World Tables • Sources, Index.

Level: Library/Interdisciplinary projects at all level of the gymnasium

Patrick Marber's play has been hailed as one of the best plays of sexual politics in English. There are four just characters in Closer: two women and two men. Alice is a lost soul who works as a stripper. Dan is a would-be writer who now turns out obituaries. Anna is a photographer. Larry is a dermatologist. Closer follows their relationships through a number of decisive meetings and confrontations over a number of years. We are given a gloomy picture of the brutal reality of modern romance. The quartet of strangers meet, fall in love, and become caught up in a web of sexual desire and betrayal where the couples inevitably come apart only to form new partnerships. These are weak characters, giving in to the temptations of easy pleasure or the promise of success. In short scenes the characters struggle with their own desires and with the conflicting wants and needs of their partners. They dance back and forth without getting any closer to each other or to what they want out of life. Decisions made when young come back to haunt them as their lives descend into deceipt and lies.
Closer was made into a film in 2004, directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Natalie Portman as Alice, Julia Roberts as Anna, Jude Law as Dan, and Clive Owen as Larry.
Contents include: Patrick Marber — Plot — Commentary (Background, Structure and time, Identity, Sex and love, Closer on screen etc.) — Further Reading and Viewing — CLOSER —  Notes — Questions for Further Study.
Level: B (demands some maturity from students)

(Replaces Domestic Violence)

Domestic abuse affects over 350,000 people in England and Wales alone. It can be physical but also verbal and emotional, and can impact seriously on any children in the relationship. This book looks at the impact of hidden domestic abuse on individuals and society:

Key Facts;  Glossary Index;  Additional Resources (websites etc.);  Index.

(Replaces Women, Men and Equality)

Gender equality has come a long way but inequalities still exist. Girls outperform boys in education, but women are paid on average 17% less than men. Women are still more likely than men to take responsibility for housework and childcare. This book examines equality issues at home, at work, at school and in law.

Key Facts;  Glossary Index;  Additional Resources (websites etc.);  Index.

Former Los Angeles Times columnist Norah Vincent spent a year and a half posing as a man. Her account of that period is sympathetic and full of good observations of the small triumphs and tragedies in the lives of common men. As “Ned”, she joins an all-male bowling league, dates women, works for a door-to-door sales force, hangs out in strip clubs and retreats to a monastery. Norah could not predict how crucial the relationships Ned forged would be and how the burden of being an impostor would became almost too much to bear. The result is a constantly surprising and humane account of what it is to be a man — and a woman — in the modern world. She observes the ways men disrespect women, but also the pressure men feel to perform and compete in our culture. One of her main conclusions is that it is difficult to be a man! She experiences dating, in particular, as a horrible experience, with neither sex having there guard down.  (290 pages)
Level: B (kan læses i uddrag)

(Replaces Sexuality and Discrimination)

Homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967, yet issues such as gay adoption and civil partnerships are still contentious. Many gay people also suffer misunderstanding, discrimination and abuse:

Key Facts;  Glossary Index;  Additional Resources (websites etc.);  Index.

Chapter One: Teenage parents
Teenagers: sexual health and behaviour, Information on teenage pregnancy, Teenage pregnancy, Teenage pregnancy – what to do, Consequences of teenage births, Sex education and teenage pregnancy, Sex education that works, Beyond biology, Call for sex education in primary schools, Mum’s the word, Pregnancy in teenage girls ‘all part of nature’s law’, Poverty and young parenthood, Teenage mums should not be stigmatised, The stigma of being a teenage mum, Getting teenage mums ‘back to school’, When lads become dads, Toddlers to help halt teen pregnancies.

Chapter Two: Lone-Parent Families
Welfare and single parenthood in the UK, Welfare and single parenthood in the UK: statistics, Lone parent families, Dependent children, Why UK is Europe’s single-parent capital, Benefits and tax credits, How many lone parents are receiving benefits?, Top ten survival tips for lone parents, Parenting alone, Birth fathers’ rights.

Key Facts;  Glossary;  Additional Resources;  Index

Now with a FREE Danish glossary!

Perhaps Roddy Doyle’s best book. The story of a battered Dublin womanPerhaps Roddy Doyle’s best book. The story of a battered Dublin woman in her late thirties, struggling to reclaim her dignity after marriage to an abusive husband.This book has now been made more accessible with Astrid Skjoldborg Glans’ Danish Glossary with good notes about life in Dublin (222 pages)
Level: B/C