At all levels of government—from the international to the local—public policies are formulated mainly by men, but their impacts are felt, sometimes differently, by women, men, and children. This book considers the impact of public policy on various aspects of women's lives, including sex and birth, marriage and death, work and child rearing, and women's responses to those policies. Written by scholars who have lived on five continents, the chapters span the First and Third Worlds, with several providing case illustrations of policies affecting women in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Written by scholars from several disciplines, the volume includes the fields of economics, politics, and planning. Literature also is covered, along with women's fiction as a source of women's opinions.
The work is divided into two sections. The first section, Economic Policies and Migration, considers the impact of economic and demographic policies. The second section, Sex and Marriage, Violence and Control, considers policies relating to women's interpersonal relationships. Urban culture is discussed in an epilogue.