As this book enters its fourth edition, it’s been adopted widely around the coun
try and translated into several languages. It’s personally gratifying, of course, but
more gratifying is the embrace of the book’s vision of a world in which gender inequal
ity is but a distant anachronism, and a serious intellectual confrontation with gender
inequality, and the differences that such inequality produces, is a central part of the
struggle to bring such a world about. I’m proud to contribute to that struggle.
In this fourth edition, I’ve tried to incorporate the suggestions and to respond to
the criticisms various reviewers and readers have offered. I’ve continued to expand and
update the book, trying to take account of new material, new arguments, new data.
In the last edition, I added a chapter on the gendered media. This edition offers a new
chapter on gender and religion. In addition, I have paid more and closer attention to
issues surrol;lnding bisexuality and transgenderism, and I have added a new box theme
throughout the book that helps to dispel gender myths (entitled “Oh, Really?”). We
have also redesigned the book to incorporate a more open look and feel, and we have
included many new visuals-photos, illustrations, and cartoons-to aid student com
prehension. Lastly, for this edition, we are pleased to offer a dedicated instructor’s man
ual, which includes testing items and teaching suggestions.
This background suggests some of the ways that this book is a work in progress.
Not a week goes by that I don’t hear from a colleague or a student who is using the
book and has a question, a comment, a suggestion, or a criticism. I wish I could have
incorporated everyone’s suggestions (well, not everyone’s!); all engage me in the never
ending conversation about gender and gender inequality of which this book is but a
small part.