'With graceful prose and an insightful analytic lens, Joyce Gelb probes three crucial dimensions of women and public policy in Japan and the United States. Scholars and citizens alike can learn a great deal from this study. Gelb's sustained focus on the role of international treaties in advancing women's rights holds provocative - and very troubling - implications for Americans who care about gender equality.' - Sylvia Bashevkin, Professor, University of Toronto 'Joyce Gelb has written an indispensable book for anyone interested in the politics of gender. Her countries of comparison, the U.S. and Japan, provide a richly detailed counterpoint to the usual Anglo/European focus of this topic. And despite the depressing statistics that tell us how far women are from achieving complete equality, Gelb tells an essentially optimistic story about how women activists in these very different countries have made and are making a difference.' - Frances McCall Rosenbluth, Professor of Political Science, Yale University 'Joyce Gelb does a masterful job of describing and comparing women's movements, equal opportunity employment policies, domestic violence policies, reproductive rights policies, and policies meant to harmonize work and family life in Japan and the United States. The book offers students and scholars a complex and sophisticated picture of public policies towards women in both countries. Gelb's study is a major contribution to the field of comparative public policy studies.' - Jane Bayes, Professor of Political Science, California State University