Women, Politics, and Power: A Global Perspective is the first comprehensive global text on women in politics. It provides a clear and detailed introduction to womenA s political representation across a wide range of countries and regions, addressing both womenA s parliamentary representation and womenA s ascendance to leadership positions as heads of state or cabinet ministers. Using broad statistical overviews and detailed case-study accounts, the book documents both historical trends and the contemporary state of womenA s political strength across diverse countries. It also reviews and evaluates contemporary debates on why and how womenA s access to political power varies across countries. The facts and figures detailed in the book, combined with its synthesis of existing theory, help to answer questions such as: Why have women succeeded in obtaining political power in some countries and not in others? Why did some countries take decades to elect their first female member of parliament, while others had women in their first legislative meeting? Is America a leader in promoting womenA s political representation, or does it fall behind other countries?There is simply no other book that provides such a thorough and multidisciplinary synthesis of research on womenA s political power from around the world. aa