Man's Dominion：The Rise of Religion and the Eclipse of Women's Rights

Jefferys (social and political science, U. of Melbourne) examines the rise of religion around the world and the ill effects it has bore women. She looks at all three Abrahamic religions, not just their fundamentalist forms. One of the main themes of the book is to challenge rather than "respect" religions in the liberal multiculturalist sense, which she argues has obscured a "gentleman's agreement" to tolerate misogyny. She recalls feminist critiques of religion in the 1970s and '80s, surveys the international rise of right-wing religionists seeking to counter advances in women's rights, how multiculturalism and desecularization have facilitated the rise of religion, the harm of practices like veiling and polygamy, and the way that the Left marginalizes feminist critics of religion. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Sheila Jeffreys is a Professor in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of The Industrial Vagina (2009) and Beauty and Misogyny (2005).