Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2020 -

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a global problem, a stark reality that this volume reinforces. However, there is a significant dearth of rigorous, comparative social scientific research on VAWG, and this study by Bradley (Univ. of Portsmouth, UK) helps to fill the gap with case studies from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sudan, South Sudan, and the UK. Refreshingly, this offering also introduces an original theoretical framework for understanding VAWG, one that prioritizes the concept of gender. Bradley correctly points out that it is impossible to develop effective means of curbing VAWG in any country or context without placing gender at the forefront of any program or policy development. This may seem obvious to many if not all feminist scholars, activists, and practitioners, but increasingly gender is being sidelined in the bulk of government efforts to curb one of the world's most compelling social problems. Bradley reminds us that this is one of the key reasons why VAWG persists, despite worldwide efforts and the allocation of millions of dollars to curb it.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

Crime and gender seem indisputably linked--more than 90 percent of serious offenses reported by the FBI are committed by males. Yet from 1977 to 2010, the number of women incarcerated increased sevenfold. Investigating this trend, five authors, all interested in feminist criminology, examine the dynamics of imprisoned women in the rural US. In their fascinating and admirable analysis, the authors recount prisoners' dramatic, novel-like life experiences through vivid composite characters, employing an ethnographic approach to best reflect their true lives. The 71 women interrogated included those currently imprisoned, those who have reentered the community, and one correctional officer. The result is a unique, readable, lengthy study of female incarceration in the Wyoming women's prison, one of 67 state women's prisons in the US. As the authors uncover, women with limited education and skills have fewer opportunities to emerge from poverty, indicating that deleterious decision-making is more likely to occur. Consequently, committing a felony may emerge as a rational option for these women. As the rural US is often overlooked, rural crime incidence may also be under reported, the authors believe. This text therefore presents new possibilities for future study.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.