This book is a pioneering venture. It is the first effort to provide an international inventory of women's universities and colleges. Apart from providing such inventory the book intends to raise questions and suggest new ways of improving the education of women worldwide. It is an invitation to network and to create a community of institutions with a common purpose and orientation. It is hoped especially that women's institutions in the 'north', and especially in the United States, can use this resource to link up with counterpart colleges and universities in developing countries. Providing higher education opportunities for women, understanding the role of women in societies, and contributing to the expansion of women's studies as a new field are all important goals, and women's institutions are central both to understanding and to ameliorating inequalities. This book hopes to make a small contribution to these goals.