Statistically speaking, nine out of ten women are embarrassed to call themselves feminists. Apparently, such sad numbers are due to a lack of knowledge on this issue and a distorted image of feminists in society. And yet it is a global idea that unites women around the world, and oddly enough, not only on March 8: the fight for equal rights with men. For the same opportunities, the same wages, the same recognition of achievements. In fact, this is what every woman wants at heart. But not everyone has the courage to admit it.
The world of feminist literature is expanding at a tremendous rate, and more and more women want to claim their rights, to share their stories, to inspire the rest of us, including through literature.
In this list, we have compiled some of the best books on the subject that “speak” in the voices of great women. These novels, stories, collections of articles, and biographies reflect the real experiences and struggles of gender discrimination and other difficulties faced by the “weaker” sex.
HOW TO BE A WOMAN BY CAITLIN MORAN
A popular British journalist and television presenter wrote her “Revelations…” in five months. Driven by the idea of answering the main question: what it is like to be a woman in today’s world, the author created a manifesto, which calls for the empowerment of the female sex. And judging by the number of sold copies of the book, which in record time took the position of a “New York Times bestseller”, Caitlin’s ideas were close to a large number of women (and men, by the way, too). Although women today are not persecuted or burned at the stake as they were in 1727, discrimination, body-shaming, harassment, and other side effects of modern society continue to shadow them. In “HOW TO BE A WOMAN” Caitlin Moran interweaves answers to important women’s questions with stories from her own life. The text is written with ease and ease, seasoned with a pinch of humor and self-irony, not for nothing Caitlin is the winner of numerous awards for writers and journalists, and one of Britain’s most influential women.
We Should All Be Feminists: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A Discussion of Gender Equality is based on a lecture of the same name by the author on the TED video platform. Nigerian writer and novelist Ngozi Adichie uses her own experiences and notions of sexuality to explain the phenomenon of feminism in the 21st century. The essay, only 64 pages long, covers women’s issues from the beginning of the world to the present, analyzes attitudes toward the female sex in different cultures and countries, and tells the stories of the greatest women of all times, who were not afraid to stand up for their rights and fight, sometimes to their last breath.
The author emphasizes that it is not enough to talk about human rights as long as society ignores the precarious position of women in the social system. “The Happy African Feminist,” as Chimamanda Ngozi calls herself in her work, describes the contradictory, sometimes even aggressive, attitude of those around her toward feminists. She recounts how she herself was repeatedly discouraged from characterizing herself in this way, lest it affect her career and future life. But the author not only ignores such requests, but encourages everyone, regardless of gender, age and social status, to join the fight for women’s rights.
Vox, Christina Dalcher
If you appreciated Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, then American author Christina Dulcher’s debut novel will also appeal to you. The anti-utopia “Vox” draws the gray everyday life of the new world. A world in which women have no right to vote. A woman has 100 words at her disposal. She won’t need any more, since her main task in this new world is to satisfy the needs of men and not to share their opinions. Whoever breaks this immutable rule will be given an electric shock.
Jean McLellan, Ph.D., the protagonist of the work, refuses to believe what is happening: how could this happen in a once free country? But soon the woman understands the reality of the situation and begins to desperately look for a way out of it. For her own sake, for the sake of her children, for the sake of future generations. “Vox” is a fantasy of the author with a frighteningly realistic projection on modern society. It is an impressive story about how everything can change in one day, how easy it is to cover up outright evil with good intentions, how to find the strength to never give up and fight the social patterns of patriarchal society.
The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan
Where did the myth come from that a woman is “the keeper of the family home,” “the support for her husband,” “the man is the head and the woman is the neck”? Such questions occupied Betty Friedan’s head and she decided to categorize the knowledge of womanhood and set forth her point of view in the book “The Enigma of Femininity. The author went against society, refuting the secondary role of women and arguing that the latter can be realized in any sphere, if she will not concentrate all her attention and efforts on the family and the care of the home. Women who were tired of household chores, supported Betty and her book immediately became a bestseller.
In her work, the author lays grievances against society and blames her major leaders, idols, psychologists, and cultural figures who, at various points in time, have formed the stereotype that women are inherently weak, not too smart, and unable to achieve the same successes as men. At the end of the book, Betty Friedan offers women a “New Life Program” to help them break free from the eternal captivity of maternity and achieve their truly important dreams and goals.
