Gender Inequality offers a comparative international analysis of an issue which has been the subject of vigorous political and scholarly debate in recent decades. To what extent have social differences by gender, including differences in salary, status, and social and political participation, changed in this period? What barriers exist to the equal participation of women in all aspects of social, political and organizational life? Using original survey research drawn from countries of very different cultural and political structures, the authors are able to analyze not only the extent of women's and men's participation in public life, but also the major influences on progress towards gender equality. Has there been greater progress in western or communist nations? What is the role of the religion and culture? How important has an active women's movement been in the development of gender equality? `Gender Inequality draws together an enormously rich and complex body of comparative data, interwoven with theoretical insights, and presented in an accessible manner. This book will be helpful to sociologists, historians and political scientists interested in the continuing saga of gender and social and political life.' - Jean Bethke Elshtain, Centenial Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University