Impressive, enlightening, and fascinating to read, this easy-to-use narrative chronology records the triumphs, obstacles, and conditions of women's lives from prehistory to the present and profiles the achievements of nearly 5,000 women from practically every corner of the globe. Western history is thoroughly covered and supplemented by information on Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Africa. From Cro-Magnon childbirth and ancient Egyptian cosmetics to Janet Reno and the Tailhook scandal, the breadth, diversity, and accessibility of this work make it invaluable for identifying the accomplishments and circumstances of women in any given historical period. Entries are arranged by year or group of years in an easy-to-use format of ten subject categories. Here the reader will find information concerning women's legal rights, life expectancy, medical care, and daily tasks, as well as the achievements of thousands of individual women in politics, warfare, jurisprudence, literature, the visual and performing arts, athletics, exploration, activism, business, science, scholarship, and religion.

Women have had to overcome major obstacles throughout human history and they have accomplished much despite those barriers. This work contains many thousands of testimonies to their achievements. Brief entries summarize the most important or characteristic events of each period, while explanatory essays illuminate broad trends and unusual aspects of women's lives in a variety of cultures. Information can be located easily by consulting the topic and name index, and a bibliography is also included.