In this book, Chakrabati lives up to her reputation as an ardent supporter of women's rights. Some of the chapters were quite disturbing, especially the one highlighting the many millions of missing women in the world killed at birth because they weren't boys..
Her arguments are passionately written and are thought provoking for all the right reasons.
Sadly it will be a few more generations before the inequality between the sexes is resolved. Hopefully this book will speed up the process.

Another informed and well argued book covering feminism, the current issues & battles for equality and the importance of diversity in society. Divided in to chapters covering feminism in areas such as health & reproduction, work, wealth & religion this covers world matters and is well detailed but presented in an easy to read and interesting approach.

Chakrabati is a respected writer and social commentator so this book is predictable for presenting clear arguments promoting the urgent need to accelerate the establishment of equality between the sexes. From the vastly lesser chances offered in education to the constraints of opportunity that result from stifled opportunities and unequal pay in the workplace, it is clear there is still much to be done. We are "human beings" first and only when this simple fact is genuinely recognised and universally accepted shall we correct the wrongs that have been done to women over the centuries. A recommended read for men!

I was sent a copy of Of Women: In the 21st Century by Shami Chakrabarti to read and review by NetGalley.
I have always admired and respected Shami Chakrabarti and enjoyed watching her debating on programmes such as Question Time. I personally believe that she is someone who should be listened to as she speaks wisely and knowledgably about all things human, political and of course human rights.
I had not actually read any of her writings and was a little worried that Of Women might be a little dry and hard to digest because of the subject matter. How wrong could I be! I was interested, shocked, appalled and heartened by turn. Even the statistics did not leave me cold!
This is a well-researched and very readable book highlighting the many aspects of life concerning women across the world. I cannot believe that in the twenty first century that many of the archaic attitudes and customs inflicted on women of all nations and walks of life are still so prevalent. Shami not only highlights the need for feminism within our own knowledge of the term – e.g. with equality and equal pay, but within the realms of basic human rights.
While the main focus of the book is of women, as of the title, I challenge anyone of any gender to read it and not be appalled by the state of the world we live in and want to change things for the better. Good work Shami!

Shami Chakrabarti is passionate, and indeed angry, about the need for gender equality in her book Of Women: in the 21 Century. She examines the effects of gender injustice on a wide variety of issues in many parts of the world. In parts it reads like a dry academic textbook, packed full of statistics and wide ranging examples of gender injustice on a global scale. It becomes more personal however, when she writes about her own experiences her family and her background.

She covers a broad overview of many issues, rather than an in depth study, including violence against women, abortion, sanitary products, childcare and sex education and topics such as faith, the concept of home and displaced persons, health, wealth, education, representation, opportunity and insecurity in the 21st century. There are so many issues for just one book of just 229 pages and it is depressing reading for the most part, even though she suggests a number of initiatives to improve matters.

However, she remains optimistic, concluding that she believes that ‘far greater equality for women and men is realistically within our reach and well worth the stretch.’ I don’t think it is that easy and will need more than a ‘stretch’.

There is an extensive list (for each chapter heading) of ‘Further Reading and Viewing’ at the end of the book, but I think it would also be helpful to have an index to the wide ranging issues covered in this book.

Shami Chakrabarti is a former director of Liberty (2003-16), is Labour’s Shadow Attorney General, a member of the House of Lords, and the author of On Liberty, a book about human rights violations published in 2014.

My thanks to the publishers for a review copy via NetGalley.

I absolute loved this book, it has a bit of and angry voice but it’s absolutely necessary given the facts and numbers given. Don’t know if I’m the printed version will include phone numbers or help type web sites, but I think would be a great addition for those who are struggling or those who would like to help other ladies.
Thank you berg ally for letting me review this book.

When I saw that this book had just been published by Shami Chakrabarti, I wanted to make sure that I had a copy to improve my understanding of what is a challenging but extremely important subject in today's world. As a man, it was not an issue that had previously attracted as much of my attention as maybe it should and I wanted to do something about that situation. Shami Chakrabati is someone who had already gained my respect through her public presence and having finished the book, I feel that she has provided me with greater detailed insight and on a global scale.
What particularly impressed me is the breadth of her knowledge and the accompanying statistics that she used to support her case. My biggest concern with this book is the style that she has adopted to present the vast wealth of information on such important issues across the globe. At times the flood of information and statistics was overwhelming and this should have been taken into account when considering the potential readership.
But that should not detract from the fact that this book is an up to date statement on the position and challenges of women in the 21st century. It is presented in a balanced and informative way and is certainly a "must read" book.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Chakrabati maintains that gender injustice may be the greatest human rights abuses in the planet because it targets half the population and isn't limited to any one country or time. We in the Western world complain about inequality in pay and promotion prospects but some of the discrimination against women in other countries is truly shocking. It is important also to consider that these women will never be able to know about the message on this book because they cannot read. I found it took me a long time to read this book but I was glad that I did persevere as it has an important message to convey about what needs to change in today's world. I struggled not with the content (although at times there were too many examples and it was somewhat confusing) but with the literary style. It felt very much like an academic paper. That aside I would recommend it.

This wasn't the book for me, and unfortunately I only read 25% of the book.

It was incredibly well researched, Shami pulled together great point from all over the globe and covered all different types of people. And of course it has a great message.

However, it read like more of an academic paper than a book for general consumption. There was also times where we seemed jump around between topics.

While, in general, this is a fairly basic introduction to feminist thought, the conclusion is a particularly powerful manifesto for a 21st century feminism.

Thought provoking, Shami Chakrabarti's treatise "On Women" explores the inequalities present across the globe today. I found myself agreeing with most of the points she makes, however by her own admission, only the privileged, educated women on the planet will get the chance to read and consider the issues as Chakrabarti writes them. One would hope that she as a politician will be able to push this message out across multiple media as it's a subject important for all.

To read this book is like re-reading de Beauvoir's classic The Second Sex and what's depressing is that however much has changed about our world (the internet, Twitter, Trump), many of the basic inequalities are still in place. Chakrabarti, however, is more upbeat than I am in this impassioned polemic - sadly, though, I suspect she's speaking to the converted. It's difficult to imagine a misogynist, self-proclaimed or not, picking up this book; just as it's difficult to imagine the passively political or even the vaguely-interested deciding that this might be worth a read. Which is a shame since one of the things that Chakrabarti brings to the table is a clarity of expression, an accessibility in her arguments, and a good number of facts, statistics and numbers to give substance to her discussions.

For all that, there's nothing new here, however much I enjoyed her analysis of Trump's behaviour with female politicians, for example, or her assessments of the (mis)representations of women in media and culture. I like, too, that Chakrabarti tackles head on debates about feminism and trans/cis communities, and doesn't ever overlook the way in which feminism has a wide remit of generalised equalities that encompass masculinity, race, class, wellness, education and economic status.

The writing is both impassioned and also personal (I loved the moments where we hear about Chakrabarti's own family, upbringing and experiences) but, of course, if it were easy to legislate, demonstrate or otherwise radically overturn global misogyny and gender inequality, we'd have made more process than we have. Like initiatives, though, like Everyday Sexism, it's this kind of drip-feeding of information, protest and informed discussion that we have to rely on. I hope this is a book which becomes widely read, debated, openly discussed and which readers pass on to their families, loved ones, friends, acquaintances and, especially, to the younger generations growing into an inherited unfair world.

Of Women: In the 21st Century, by Shami Chakrabarti, published just over a week ago, argues that the fight for women's rights is the fight for all our rights, men or women, girls or boys. It warns of the urgent, global need to recognise a woman's right – any woman, every woman – to live an unmolested life equal in quality to, and as rich in opportunities, as that of her male counterpart. She argues that the fight for women's rights is the fight for everyone's rights because everyone, male or female is born to a woman, and if a mother is denied her right to a life free from violence, a life with healthcare, education, housing and social opportunities, then the chances are high that her children will be denied these things too, and especially in their important formative years.

It's easy to think that in the UK a least, the big fights are long over, and that we can all live fairly peacefully and happily ever after. Women have had voting rights for a century; women are just as entitled to own property; women are in jobs of political power, of academic prowess, and of corporate weight. In fact, sometimes it's easy to believe, or at least hope, that with all the progress made in the last century, we can finally take a well-deserved rest on our laurels before we tidy up the loose ends of women's healthcare, childcare, equal pay, and real and perceived threats of violence.

But if we believe this, Chakrabarti urges, we need to take a closer look, and a more global one.

Chakrabarti's book is a serious, scholarly and expansive one. It is littered liberally with generous mentions of great feminist writers and their works, and it approaches each sector of feminist thinking in a clear and sober but heartfelt way. She examines a woman's lot from a global perspective, and the horrors faced by our fellow female human beings who live in less wealthy, progressive and enlightened countries, where female children are killed outright or through wilful neglect by one method or another without consequence, and where girls' bodies are routinely slashed, sliced, and carved up in the name of tradition. It is heavy-going material at times, often frightening and dark. But Chakrabarti also highlights projects and drivers of change and hope – and in this sphere, it is the less wealthy countries, the countries where women's rights are woefully absent, that some imaginative and effective projects and initiatives are taking place:

[I]n places like Kyrgystan in the eastern reaches of the former Soviet Union [...] twenty-year old student volunteers have been found to be the most effective communicators to talk to fourteen and fifteen year olds about pregnancy, STIs, contraception and sexuality.

[...] Education as a Vaccine (EVA) works in Nigeria ... [where it] created an anonymous question and answer service delivered via telephone, text message, email and social media in order to provide young people with a means of discussing and learning about sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. The service has proved incredibly popular with users ranging between the ages of ten and thirty.


Chakrabarti's book differs from much mainstream feminism: the solutions she presents are not exclusively aimed at women, nor solely for the betterment of women's lives. She argues that in changing attitudes and encouraging responsibility, education, thought, discussion, and respect, both men and women will benefit. In fact, much of the book is concerned with an achievable vision of a fairer and more comfortable society for all its members. This outline is necessarily a rough diamond rather than a polished fait accompli – the book is one of eye-opening facts and ideas, not a policy document or manifesto – but it succeeds in getting across the reasons why it is worth pursuing attitudinal shifts, and how we might go about kick-starting change and promoting its momentum. Positive action is high on her list of methods, along with greater enforcement of already existing laws (such as those around equal pay), and encouraging people's inclusive contribution to their own society. These are not new ideas, but they are ones worth repeating until they take firm hold – and Chakrabarti's writing is clear and persuasive enough to perhaps persuade a few more people that inclusivity, tolerance and respect brings tangible rewards.

Of Women is as much about social evils for both men and women, as it is about social evils perpetrated solely on women. She is wholly inclusive: what affects women affects everyone - plummeting levels of affordable homes, fit for purpose homes, social housing, unemployment, poverty, the wealth gap, inadequate education opportunities, social funding neglect that creates masses of homeless people and back to which can be traced the Grenfell tower block disaster. She is clear that many of the problems affecting women and girls so too affect men and boys, though in different ways that require different, but concerted actions – which problems ultimately cause even greater and more entrenched societal problems. Chakrabarti states what should be obvious even in a money obsessed world – if the basic needs of a large portion of the population are neglected and left unmet, disaffection spreads, which is the blue touchpaper for social unrest. Chakrabarti's answer to the issue is forging a society that first gives high quality educational opportunities to all its people, and ensures that the basic needs of food, adequate housing, and social opportunities are met.

Of Women is thoroughly researched and minutely observed – in fact Chakrabarti has lived many of the ideas in this book through her work with Liberty, an advocacy group promoting civil liberties and human rights, for which she was the director for thirteen years. Though it is quite academic in parts, it will appeal to anyone who is intelligently interested in the casual daily erosion of the self-respect and core identity of billions of people simply because they were born into an unlucky sex.

Books about the rights of, and abuses against women are, of course, often preaching to the converted. Misogynists are unlikely to pick up and read this book with an open and curious mind, and those who have the power to effect change are equally unlikely to simply do so upon recommendation, even when that recommendation comes from someone articulate, educated and politically experienced. But change is effected by the weight of opinion, and Of Women: in the 21st Century is a welcome and well-argued addition to the popular debate.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher

In the Introduction to her book ‘Of Women’ Shami Chakrabarti poses the question “will the recent resurgence of interest in the women’s cause become part of a wider struggle for social justice or fragment into a ‘niche’ or ‘single’ issue and be left behind?”

In her Conclusion, a little under two hundred pages later, she answers her own question thus: “the struggle for gender justice … is not a ‘single issue’. It cannot be separated from politics and economics in the deepest and broadest sense, nor from fundamental rights, both civil and political, social and economic, at home and abroad.”

This response is open to criticism from two opposite directions. Firstly, Chakrabarti’s assumption that ‘single issue’ causes are doomed to at least relative failure seems perverse, especially coming from the former Head of Liberty. What, for example, was the campaign to enact national prohibition in the United States, if not a single-issue cause? And what was the Women's Social and Political Union’s campaign for the vote, if not a single-issue cause?

Furthermore, is it really the case that “the struggle for gender justice” must be part of a broader battle for equality? I wonder if Chakrabarti realises that Emmeline Pankhurst’s last year saw her stand as a Conservative candidate for parliament.

Last but not least, if Chakrabarti is really serious about a broad progressive coalition isn’t there a case for lamenting Hillary Clinton’s defeat of Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination at least as much as Trump’s defeat of her for the presidency, especially given that Sanders represented the closet parallel in mainstream American politics to Jeremy Corbyn?

Contrariwise, Chakrabarti can be criticised for failing to be sufficiently inclusive in her clarion call to progressive inclusivity insofar as there’s nothing in her book to suggest that her progressive coalition should include those whose politics are green, unlike Naomi Klein in her recent book ‘No Is Not Enough’. Thus whilst there’s a great deal of talk of home, work and educational environments there’s not even a passing reference by Chakrabarti to environmentalism, although defending Mother Earth against rape by capitalist interests should not really be that great a stretch. Or is Chakrabarti happy to relegate green concerns to ‘single issue’ status?

This is not to say that ‘Of Women’ is a bad book. On the contrary, Chakrabarti has much of interest to say on a wide range of gender-related issues including abortion, domestic violence, stereotyping, sanitary products, sex education, equal pay and child care. She is particularly to be commended for approaching the issue of gender injustice in global terms. Having said all that, this is a book which impresses more by the breadth than by the depth of its arguments.