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elementarymydear 's review for:
Do It Like a Woman... and Change the World
by Caroline Criado Pérez
It often feels like feminist non-fiction falls into one of two categories; either it’s a girl-power focussed, best-women-of-history type book, or it’s a heavily detailed manifesto on patriarchal structures and their sociological and economic effects.*
Do It Like A Woman manages to perfectly bridge those two categories, as Caroline Criado-Perez interviews women – some activists, some not – who have accomplished amazing things in their lives, and uses their experiences to guide the reader through the ingrained societal norms that these women have had to overcome, or are working to overturn. She starts off much as you might expect, speaking to women who are trailblazers in their respective fields and not only drawing inspiration from them but unpicking the nuances behind what they say to draw attention not only to the barriers they’ve overcome but why those barriers were there in the first place. By the end of the first chapter, ‘doing it like a woman’, I thought I knew what I was in for.
(Find this and other reviews at https://elementarymydearbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/01/07/book-review-do-it-like-a-woman/)
From the second chapter (‘Speaking like a woman’), though, Criado-Perez takes us much deeper into the heart of gender discrimination. She talks to activists from countries such as Iran which are known for their sexist laws and culture, and draws on her own experiences (she successfully campaigned for Jane Austen to be featured on the £10 note, and was inundated with threats online) to make the reader reckon with the insidious meaning behind the violence and hatred women face every day all around the world.
For what was at times a book that dealt with extremely heavy topics, it was extremely readable, if disheartening at times as Criado-Perez explained just how ingrained sexism is in our own brains, let alone societal structures. Just as the bad news gets too much, though, we’re heartened and encouraged by good news of the women making waves and changing the world. Her thesis is clear: that women need to have choice, and that a choice made out of necessity is not a choice made out of freedom. It is this freedom that all of the women she speaks to want to achieve, no matter which field they work or campaign in.
This was a solid 5 star read for me – eye-opening, moving, and inspirational all wrapped up in one brilliantly written package. I can’t wait to read her other work!
*To be clear, I very much enjoy reading books from both of these categories.
Do It Like A Woman manages to perfectly bridge those two categories, as Caroline Criado-Perez interviews women – some activists, some not – who have accomplished amazing things in their lives, and uses their experiences to guide the reader through the ingrained societal norms that these women have had to overcome, or are working to overturn. She starts off much as you might expect, speaking to women who are trailblazers in their respective fields and not only drawing inspiration from them but unpicking the nuances behind what they say to draw attention not only to the barriers they’ve overcome but why those barriers were there in the first place. By the end of the first chapter, ‘doing it like a woman’, I thought I knew what I was in for.
(Find this and other reviews at https://elementarymydearbookblog.wordpress.com/2021/01/07/book-review-do-it-like-a-woman/)
From the second chapter (‘Speaking like a woman’), though, Criado-Perez takes us much deeper into the heart of gender discrimination. She talks to activists from countries such as Iran which are known for their sexist laws and culture, and draws on her own experiences (she successfully campaigned for Jane Austen to be featured on the £10 note, and was inundated with threats online) to make the reader reckon with the insidious meaning behind the violence and hatred women face every day all around the world.
For what was at times a book that dealt with extremely heavy topics, it was extremely readable, if disheartening at times as Criado-Perez explained just how ingrained sexism is in our own brains, let alone societal structures. Just as the bad news gets too much, though, we’re heartened and encouraged by good news of the women making waves and changing the world. Her thesis is clear: that women need to have choice, and that a choice made out of necessity is not a choice made out of freedom. It is this freedom that all of the women she speaks to want to achieve, no matter which field they work or campaign in.
This was a solid 5 star read for me – eye-opening, moving, and inspirational all wrapped up in one brilliantly written package. I can’t wait to read her other work!
*To be clear, I very much enjoy reading books from both of these categories.