Now in paperback for the first time, the Handbook is an academic adaptation of information contained in the Global Report on the Status of Women in News Media, a study commissioned by the International Women's Media Foundation. The book's editor was the principal investigator of the original study. This text draws together the most robust data from that original study, presenting it in 29 chapters on individual nations and three additional theoretical chapters. The book is the most expansive effort to date to consider women's standing in the journalism profession across the world. Contents organize nations in relation to their progress within newsrooms, with those most advanced in gender equality representing diversity in terms of region and national development. Contributing authors are, in most cases, the original researchers for their respective nations in the Global Report study.

Carolyn M. Byerly, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication, Culture and Media Studies, Howard University, Washington DC, USA, teaches communication research theory and methods and studies gender and race issues in media, including communication policy and women's employment. She is the author (or co-author) of many book chapters, journal articles and three books.