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Created Equal: Voices on Women's Rights
The Palgrave Macmillan/Amnesty International Series illuminates the greatest human rights issues facing the world today. From human trafficking to poverty, terrorism to freedom of expression, this dynamic and accessible series encourages debate about the situation today and, the path we took to get here, allowing people with many different perspectives to tell their own stories of struggle.
Created Equal is a frank and clear-sighted introduction to the current state of women’s rights globally. Millions of women throughout the world suffer from violence, poverty and denial of their human rights because of their gender. By exploring their stories, and hearing the views of both advocates for and opponents of women’s rights, Anna Horsbrugh-Porter reveals the real human costs of the violation of these rights. Among the issues covered in this book are:
-prostitution,
-violence against women,
-abortion rights,
-education
-slavery
-pornography
Created Equal is a frank and clear-sighted introduction to the current state of women’s rights globally. Millions of women throughout the world suffer from violence, poverty and denial of their human rights because of their gender. By exploring their stories, and hearing the views of both advocates for and opponents of women’s rights, Anna Horsbrugh-Porter reveals the real human costs of the violation of these rights. Among the issues covered in this book are:
-prostitution,
-violence against women,
-abortion rights,
-education
-slavery
-pornography
- GenresFeminismNonfiction
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2009
58 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 5, 2015
"Created Equal: Voices on Women's Rights" is a non-fiction novel written by Anna Horsbrugh-Porter alongside Amnesty International. The audience for this book is people who are looking to learn specifically about the topic of Feminism and women's struggle internationally with their rights. Published in 2009, this book discusses many issues that occurred or that are still currently going on around the globe that target women. Some of these issues that are thoroughly covered in this book include prostitution, violence specifically against women, education and slavery.
"Created Equal" Voices on Women's Rights" falls straight into the non-fiction and Feminism genres because all of the information is true and focuses on women's hardships across the globe. The topic discussions range from general to specific; for example, a general topic it covers is violence against women. However, regarding that same topic it will also get extremely detailed, mentioning specific people and their personal encounters with violence against women. The foreword is written by a man named Patrick Stewart, who personally experienced and was affected by violence against his mother as a young child. Unfortunately, I find this book to be sufficiently biased and affected by personal opinions rather than completely by facts even though almost every statement is immediately backed up by cited information. This cited information comes from things like magazines, political leaders, and laws. One of the most widely discussed topics in the book is the dress code for women in different countries. The book thoroughly explains the dress that is considered appropriate for women in that culture and what happens when they do not follow the guidelines. For example, the French ghettos are known for the gang rapes and violence on women by Muslim men; they often target the females who do not meet their personal opinion of what is appropriate dress, or who dress "too Western". If a rape victim is reported wearing anything like high heels, a top that is "too revealing" or a skirt that is "too short", the media and judicial system will often dismiss the case saying that the victim "asked for it" and "provoked" the attacker simply by wearing something(Amnesty International, 9).
The reoccurring theme in this book is that women are people too. Women matter, just as much as men do. Women deserve to have all of the same rights and opportunities that men do. In the first sentence in the book, it bluntly states that "All human beings are entitled to basic rights, but women and girl children are not treated the same as men and boy children"(Amnesty International, xi). This is the theme of the book because it is the main point that the author is trying to communicate to the reader. Amnesty International wanted the reader to be informed of all of the facts and hear the real life situations from women around the world who were victimized and belittled simply because they were not a man. After the facts and stories were presented to the reader, they author left the reader to form their own opinion on the matter.
This book was written in exposition writing style. An expository book explains and analyzes a topic to bring about clarity on it, and that is exactly what "Created Equal: Voices on Women's Rights" does about women who were unjustly abused. Although Amnesty International did write in a very opinionated matter, they did not strictly go off of that. They presented the reader with factual evidence and cited it in the index that is included at the back of the book. This writing style was effective because is successfully communicated what it wanted to and backed all of it up, making its points reliable and difficult to argue with.
Overall, I thought that the book was very interesting and informational. It was very boring at some points, and every so often it was difficult to understand but I was still able to grasp the underlying message. As a whole, it was a good read. I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in women's situations overseas or Feminism. However, I do not think that this book would be a good match for anybody who is not interested in those topics. If one was writing a paper related to this topic, this book would be very helpful.
"Created Equal" Voices on Women's Rights" falls straight into the non-fiction and Feminism genres because all of the information is true and focuses on women's hardships across the globe. The topic discussions range from general to specific; for example, a general topic it covers is violence against women. However, regarding that same topic it will also get extremely detailed, mentioning specific people and their personal encounters with violence against women. The foreword is written by a man named Patrick Stewart, who personally experienced and was affected by violence against his mother as a young child. Unfortunately, I find this book to be sufficiently biased and affected by personal opinions rather than completely by facts even though almost every statement is immediately backed up by cited information. This cited information comes from things like magazines, political leaders, and laws. One of the most widely discussed topics in the book is the dress code for women in different countries. The book thoroughly explains the dress that is considered appropriate for women in that culture and what happens when they do not follow the guidelines. For example, the French ghettos are known for the gang rapes and violence on women by Muslim men; they often target the females who do not meet their personal opinion of what is appropriate dress, or who dress "too Western". If a rape victim is reported wearing anything like high heels, a top that is "too revealing" or a skirt that is "too short", the media and judicial system will often dismiss the case saying that the victim "asked for it" and "provoked" the attacker simply by wearing something(Amnesty International, 9).
The reoccurring theme in this book is that women are people too. Women matter, just as much as men do. Women deserve to have all of the same rights and opportunities that men do. In the first sentence in the book, it bluntly states that "All human beings are entitled to basic rights, but women and girl children are not treated the same as men and boy children"(Amnesty International, xi). This is the theme of the book because it is the main point that the author is trying to communicate to the reader. Amnesty International wanted the reader to be informed of all of the facts and hear the real life situations from women around the world who were victimized and belittled simply because they were not a man. After the facts and stories were presented to the reader, they author left the reader to form their own opinion on the matter.
This book was written in exposition writing style. An expository book explains and analyzes a topic to bring about clarity on it, and that is exactly what "Created Equal: Voices on Women's Rights" does about women who were unjustly abused. Although Amnesty International did write in a very opinionated matter, they did not strictly go off of that. They presented the reader with factual evidence and cited it in the index that is included at the back of the book. This writing style was effective because is successfully communicated what it wanted to and backed all of it up, making its points reliable and difficult to argue with.
Overall, I thought that the book was very interesting and informational. It was very boring at some points, and every so often it was difficult to understand but I was still able to grasp the underlying message. As a whole, it was a good read. I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in women's situations overseas or Feminism. However, I do not think that this book would be a good match for anybody who is not interested in those topics. If one was writing a paper related to this topic, this book would be very helpful.
March 29, 2022
Packed full of information and covers many topics. Also shares personal stories.
"Whether women are better than men I cannot say- but I can say they are certainly no worse"
"Whether women are better than men I cannot say- but I can say they are certainly no worse"
September 19, 2013
The author's purpose of this book was to inform the readers of women's rights and how women are belittled and used in the world today. Thankfully, this book was not an extremist book. In a lot of extremist books on women's rights, the author tries to put you into a corner and force you to accept and fight for women's rights. This book laid out facts and statistics, as well as the author's own opinion on women's rights. The author, Anna Horsbrugh-Porter, did a very good job on informing the readers and not forcing them into believing in something.
Since this book was nonfiction, there wasn't really a theme. If anything, the theme would be women's rights and why they are important. In the introduction, it flat out states the basic "theme" in the first sentence. The book says, " All human beings are entitled to basic rights, but women and girl children are not treated the same as men and boy children". The theme of the book was constantly proven by facts and real life events from women who were victimized, exploited, or just plain angry at the disrespect and belittling of women.
The style of this book is about 50% argumentative and 50% exposition. It is 50% argumentative because the author is still trying to persuade the reader to be for more women's rights and equality. The other 50% is exposition because the book is still trying to show clarity and facts about women's rights. Though there are some "biased" opinions, that is totally understandable. Every factual or persuasive book is written with biased opinions because the author is writing it from his/her personal opinions.
I really enjoyed this book. I am a partial feminist, but definitely not an extremist or anywhere close to it. So reading this book really enlightened me on things that actually occur with women and their rights. This is nothing like I have ever read before. Usually, I stick to novels, whether they are classics or modern books. So reading this was a big change. It was a good change of preference, don't get me wrong, but it was still an adjustment to reading without thinking about characters or a plot.I wouldn't change anything about the book, because it was very good.
Since this book was nonfiction, there wasn't really a theme. If anything, the theme would be women's rights and why they are important. In the introduction, it flat out states the basic "theme" in the first sentence. The book says, " All human beings are entitled to basic rights, but women and girl children are not treated the same as men and boy children". The theme of the book was constantly proven by facts and real life events from women who were victimized, exploited, or just plain angry at the disrespect and belittling of women.
The style of this book is about 50% argumentative and 50% exposition. It is 50% argumentative because the author is still trying to persuade the reader to be for more women's rights and equality. The other 50% is exposition because the book is still trying to show clarity and facts about women's rights. Though there are some "biased" opinions, that is totally understandable. Every factual or persuasive book is written with biased opinions because the author is writing it from his/her personal opinions.
I really enjoyed this book. I am a partial feminist, but definitely not an extremist or anywhere close to it. So reading this book really enlightened me on things that actually occur with women and their rights. This is nothing like I have ever read before. Usually, I stick to novels, whether they are classics or modern books. So reading this was a big change. It was a good change of preference, don't get me wrong, but it was still an adjustment to reading without thinking about characters or a plot.I wouldn't change anything about the book, because it was very good.
July 20, 2016
This was a very informative (if not at times heart-wrenching/enraging) read. I had to read it in smaller sittings as I found the content to be so emotional for me. It caused me to examine some of my deep-seeded thought-patterns and behaviours as well and though it was a touch read I am Super glad that I read it and recommend all people concerned with equality in the world (which should be everyone!) to read it. I wonder if there is a more up-to-date version? Was published in 2008.
July 20, 2015
I love how this book delves into the politics of women's rights worldwide.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews