Rating: 
Summary: Women's work
Review: A sequel to the authors' successful, "Material World: A Global Family Portrait," which interviewed 30 "statistically average" families from around the world and photographed them surrounded by all their worldly goods, "Women In The Material World," by Faith D'Aluisio and Peter Menzel, revisits 21 women from these families.With interviews conducted by women over a period of days, even weeks, and 375 color photographs of women captured in their daily lives, this is an absorbing look into an overlooked world of marriage, women's work and families. From female circumcision to divorce, from finances to education, gender roles, work, and friends, women discuss every aspect of their lives - seemingly freely.
Two themes repeat through this largely agricultural world - women's work begins before dawn and ends long after dark and most women feel they have enough children - whatever that number may be. This is a fascinating, captivating and beautiful volume, to be read, not just browsed.
Rating:
Summary: Women's work
Review: A sequel to the authors' successful, "Material World: A Global Family Portrait," which interviewed 30 "statistically average" families from around the world and photographed them surrounded by all their worldly goods, "Women In The Material World," by Faith D'Aluisio and Peter Menzel, revisits 21 women from these families. With interviews conducted by women over a period of days, even weeks, and 375 color photographs of women captured in their daily lives, this is an absorbing look into an overlooked world of marriage, women's work and families. From female circumcision to divorce, from finances to education, gender roles, work, and friends, women discuss every aspect of their lives - seemingly freely.
Two themes repeat through this largely agricultural world - women's work begins before dawn and ends long after dark and most women feel they have enough children - whatever that number may be. This is a fascinating, captivating and beautiful volume, to be read, not just browsed.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting look at other women's lives.
Review: After living in ten U.S. states, England and Panama, I am well aware of economical differences between geograpthical areas. This book reminded me of the indoor physical space we Americans take for granted. The sheer luxury of a bedroom separate from the common living area, let alone bedrooms for the parents and each child!
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book that should remind us just how lucky we are!
Review: I first read Material World: a Global family portrait. This one is similar, and has some of the same people in it, but this one focuses on the women in the family, and how she takes care of her family, what she thinks about, how she gets along in life in general. There are some statistics about the country, things about how much money they make, the literacy rate, etc.. none of it boring. the book makes you feel like you are traveling around the world and meeting all of these people. The pictures are also beautiful. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in other cultures and the way that women live around the world.. i would love to find more books like this. It makes me thankful for how much I have and the opportunities in this country that are open to women!
Rating:
Summary: Women in the Material World is a great book!
Review: I read the book, Women in the Material World after I saw the author at a young women's conference last year. I thought the book was great. It showed many women's points of view on life and the way they live. This book made me think about other women and how we are all very different but also the same. I think this book is very truthful and has a beautiful message. There are not many books like this out there so I commend Faith for writing it.
Rating:
Summary: Women in the Material World is a great book!
Review: I read the book, Women in the Material World after I saw the author at a young women's conference last year. I thought the book was great. It showed many women's points of view on life and the way they live. This book made me think about other women and how we are all very different but also the same. I think this book is very truthful and has a beautiful message. There are not many books like this out there so I commend Faith for writing it.
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK WAS GREAT BOOK TO READ AND LEARN FROM
Review: I really enjoy everything about it. I wish authors went to Australia to see what a womens life is like there. Thank you. Also recommended: The Material World: A Global Family Portait around the World
Rating:
Summary: a strong feminist statement
Review: I sometimes forget that I'm not the only one alive, and I have trouble visualizing other people's lives. So the thing I loved most about this and "Material World" is how it reminds me that each one of the 6 billion people are not simply numbers but living, breathing human beings with a life history. Looking into the lives of these women was amazing! They eat, sleep, work, dream, fall in love, laugh, raise children, and make decisions, just like any other person. Many of them survive without cars, telephones, TVs, running water, and other modern conveniences, yet they function very well without them. But all of them had hopes that their children would have a better life than they did, and that their daughters could be educated so they would have more opportunities than their mothers. That's why Patti Skeen's interview bothered me. She made a comment that basically said women in the United States have too many rights and privileges, that they need to be at home to nurture the family, and that birth control and safe sex shouldn't be taught in school. I thought that was a very arrogant and ignorant thing to say. Most of the other women in the book recognize that they DON'T have very many privileges because of their gender. They have very few opportunities to control their lives, being dominated by men and their patriarchal culture. Many of them don't even have access to any birth control! And here's this American woman, saying that she thinks women don't deserve those things, that they have TOO MUCH?! She should be ashamed of herself. It's also a shame that this attitude seems to be statistically average among American women. Fortunately we have books like "Women in the Material World" that will help change those ideas.
Rating: 
Summary: Photos amazing, interviews however...
Review: I was thrilled with this book when I first saw it at a friend's house when I was visiting the US. While trying to recover from burn out syndrome, 'reading' photo books works well for me and I enjoyed this book so much because the photos give an incredibly intimate look into the lives of ordinary people around the globe. They capture both love and despair in an amazing way. However, the interviews could have been a lot better. Other reviewers are right that the chosen families are not as representative as we might wish, but at least that is accounted for and I think understandable. What bugs me most is the American bias: the American woman is asked questions on a totally different level than the others, making the others seem sort of stupid on the one hand and frustrating comparison on the other. And I also would like to have had more information about how the interview was done, if the interviewer spoke the woman's language, what may have gotten lost in the translation etc. Still, a great book to have and I wish I could have been part of the team that made it!
Rating:
Summary: Technically strong, but lacking in cultural sensitivity
Review: The photos themselves are frequently very strong and the imaginative layout provides much interesting and needed information about economics and life styles of women in many countries. For these reasons I did enjoy the book, but I can not whole heartedly recommend it because the project was not sufficiently sauve in cross-cultural representation. The problem with the book is that the photographers, interviers and writers were lacking in cross cultural insight, so I could not really recommend to my friends or family. For example, a more exact title for the book would be "Married (or divorced) heterosexual women with children in the material world," because women without children and/or women in relationships with women were excluded, which implies their experience as women is not not a part of "Women's" experience or worthy of documentation. I found the interviews to be so heavy-handed that they were trite, predicable and therefore not very interesting.
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