Research Guides: Women's and Gender Studies: Background Sources

Background Sources

Good Sources for Background Information on Social Issues

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues This link opens in a new window
E-book. Provides background and context information for a number of social issues: eating disorders, teen pregnancy, abortion, marketing to women, human trafficking, sexual assault and harassment, domestic violence, and much more.
Social Issues in America: an Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window
An 8-volume set providing detailed overviews of politically and socially contentious issues. Includes entries on abortion, reproductive freedom, pornography, media representations, poverty, and more.

Opposing Viewpoints Series
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A series of reports providing context and arguments on political conflicts, social issues, and civil/human rights. Including abortion, birth control, divorce, domestic violence, homosexuality, working women, male/female roles, and sexual violence.

U.S. & International Statistics

Use these reports and databanks to find information and statistics in the areas of education, health, politics, violence, population, sports, and much more.

Centers for Disease Control & Prevention: National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey This link opens in a new window
Presents the results of a 2010 study of U.S. intimate partner and sexual violence. Findings include that "nearly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men in the U. S. have been raped at some time in their lives" (p. 18) and "more than one-third of women in the United States (35.6% or approximately 42.4 million) have experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime" (p. 39).
PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
Easy-to-use online mapping with data on demographics, real estate, health, jobs and more in communities across the US.
From the classroom to the boardroom, thousands of organizations trust PolicyMap to find the right data for their research, market studies, business planning, site selection, grant applications and impact analysis.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Easily access statistics and produce graphs for millions of statistics in business, entertainment, health, social sciences, and government.
U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau Stats This link opens in a new window
Federal data on many aspects of the U.S. labor market. As of 2009, the unemployment rate for women was 8.1% and for men 10.3%.
UNECE Gender Statistcs Database This link opens in a new window
From the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, covers a variety of gender issues (families & households, work & the economy, education, public life, health, crime, and more). Click on "data collection and dissemination" to search the database. In 2006, the average life expectancy for women at birth in the U.K. was 82 and for men 77.

EEOC Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Private Industry
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, data from 1998 to 2009. In 2009, out of a total of 22,997,290 employed women, 1,163,765 were employed as laborers.
American Fact Finder
Use this resource to find U.S. Census Bureau information. Create charts, maps, and tables of demographics to drop into your papers. According to the 2008 Population Estimates Dataset, the median age of females in Shelby County is 37.3 years.
National Center for Education Statistics
An enormous amount of data and many reports on U.S. education! This link leads to the "tables and figures" search tool. Enter a keyword (recommended: SEX, FEMALE, GIRLS, WOMEN, BOYS, or GENDER), then select a date range. Next, select the type of data you want. Explore the rest of the website for even more tools and information.

Memphis statistics

These concise and thorough reports from UM's Center for Research on Women (CROW) provide data, statistics, and discussion of important issues for Memphis and Shelby County residents.

Center for Research on Women
The mission of the Center for Research on Women (CROW) at the University of Memphis is to conduct, promote, and disseminate scholarship on women and social inequality. Established in 1982, CROW's approach to research, theory, and programming emphasizes the structural relationships among race, class, gender, and sexuality, particularly in the U.S. South and among women of color. An interdisciplinary unit within the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center has become a national leader in promoting an integrative approach to social inequality.