Fulbright Professor Publishes New Edition of Gender and Politics Book

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Janine A. Parry, director of the Arkansas Poll and professor in the Department of Political Science in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, has published a new edition of a book that focuses on gender roles in today's political world.

The book, titled Women's Rights in the USA: Policy Debates and Gender Roles, was co-authored by Parry and Dorothy McBride, a retired professor of Florida Atlantic University. This new edition incorporates not only the history and evolution of women's rights and issues, but also the current state of these rights and the policies that concern them.

Women's Rights analyzes the changing role of women's rights in policies and politics, as well as how debates concerning these issues have influenced many women's rights laws. The book also records the many legislative changes that have affected the status of women and gender roles in society. Some of these changes include political participation, work and pay, reproduction laws, economic status, family law and constitutional law.

The book also considers how debates about women's issues have evolved, and how this has affected the development and production of laws. These debates are vital to the study of women's rights, as they provide the setting for the management and interpretation of such laws. The role and impact of feminists in the debates is highlighted as well.

"This was the best book on the market when I was a student in the '90s," Parry said. "It was conceptually and historically rich, focusing on the efforts of women's movements to shape public policy, but also full of lively examples drawn from contemporary political conflicts. This edition continues both traditions, and includes new, poignant pictures and case studies to which people of all kinds are sure to connect."

Parry said the book is especially relevant given the current election cycle, "with the prospect of the country's first woman president on everyone's minds, what better time to learn what scholarship can tell us about female leaders, and about the public policies relating to political participation, education, work and economics that brought us to this point?"

Women's Rights is now in its fifth edition, which includes updates on all of the previous topics as well as a bigger focus on issues that are more central in today's society, such as pay equity, same-sex marriage and lesbian issues, women in elective politics and conservative trends in courts.

Women's Rights was published by Routledge publishers.