Available From UC Press

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.

Well into the twenty-first century, achieving gender equality in the economy remains unfinished business. Worldwide, women’s employment, income, and leadership opportunities lag men’s. Building and using a one-of-a-kind database that covers 193 countries, this book systematically analyzes how far we’ve come and how far we have to go in adopting evidence-based solutions to close the gaps. Spanning topics including girls’ education, employment discrimination of all kinds, sexual harassment, and caregiving needs across the life course, the authors bring the findings to life through global maps, stories of laws’ impact in courts and beyond, and case studies of making change. A powerful call to action, Equality within Our Lifetimes reveals how gender equality is both feasible and urgently needed to address some of the greatest challenges of our generation.

Jody Heymann is Founding Director of the WORLD Policy Analysis Center; Distinguished Professor at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, School of Public Health, and School of Medicine; and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Aleta Sprague is Senior Legal Analyst at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center and an attorney with over a decade of experience working on social policy and inequality.

Amy Raub is Principal Research Analyst at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center and an economist with two decades of experience working on discrimination and inequality.
 

"The authors’ understanding and mastery of this topic is on display with this original, excellent work of scholarship."⏤Debbie Collier, Centre for Transformative Regulation of Work at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa

“This book is an essential handbook for those invested in gender equality law and policy.”⏤Catherine Fisk, Barbara Nachtrieb Armstrong Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law

"An inspirational title to further the advancement of comprehensive gender equality, which goes beyond formal and protective equality to substantive equality that underpins transformative laws, policies, and, above all, results on the ground."—Virginia Bras Gomes, Former Chairperson of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

"Equality within Our Lifetimes makes a compelling case, based on both quantitative and qualitative data, on how and why gender equality benefits everyone. It demonstrates how a strong commitment to equality at all levels of government, evidenced by gender equal laws and policies with robust enforcement, can bring about behavior change that greatly benefits people and economies. Governments would be wise to heed this lesson and stop using culture as an excuse for lack of gender equal laws."—Yasmeen Hassan, Global Executive Director, Equality Now