Review of Unfinished Business: The 10 Most Important Issues Women Face TodayWith New Introduction (Paperback)

The book title is deceptive and often the focus veers way off womens issues (or maybe it takes the holistic view that all issues are womens issues).For example the chapter entitled Education is mostly about school vouchers and how each political party feels about those without any attempts to tie this in to the effect on women.If you are looking for different political takes on random issues, then you will be more satisfied than if you were looking for different political takes on womens issues (as the book title might suggest that it is about).It is about social support policies, which maybe because of stereotypes we think of as womens work.

So now it's established that this is more about party policies on social support in general than about women.Each chapter has a version written by Perry and a version written by Malveaux.Each gives their party's take on that issue and drops names of various policies and groups that are pushing those policies.At the end of each chapter is a list of activist organizations for the republican and the democrat sides of that issue.I liked having both takes lined up side by side and having names dropped so that I could maybe have a clue when I see something pop up later.The focus is very time specific, with what policies are in the works right now (in 2002), so the book won't age well.

A distraction for me were the copious typos through out the book.My favorite by far was "welfare deform" - a mispelling and not an ironic misnomer, used in the section on economic safety nets.It's as if a spell checker was run on the book, but an actual person didn't go over it before it was printed.I knew what they meant, but it was still distracting.

Overall, if you aren't into politics at all, then this contains a plethora of jumping off points.If you are more into politics and have researched any of the issues here, then the treatment is probably so brief that you will tend to not get much on that issue - this book is unlikely to change your mind.That said, no one knows that much about ALL issues (do they?), and this is a fast read, so it is worth the time to get that overview and those jumping off points.

Product Description
Women have made a lot of headway in society, but they need to continue to exercise their power and take action, say Dr. Julianne Malveaux and Deborah Perry. In this lively bestseller, they show us how, offering not only a spirited debate but a deeper understanding of the issues that affect our lives and futures, including:

Abortion € Crime € Work and Family € Equal Pay and Benefits € Education € Social Security and Welfare € The Economy € Race Matters € Foreign Policy € The Environment

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