This week, the week of International Women’s Day, the Women of Wimbledon team have been sending out mini bulletins each morning – each about an inspiring modern feminist we think people should know about, written by a different member of our feminism society. Here are all five collated:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, written by Phoebe Clayton
To kick things off, I’d like to talk about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She is a Nigerian novelist and essayist – you may recognise her name from her best-selling novels ‘Purple Hibiscus’, ‘Half a Yellow Sun’ and ‘Americanah’.
Her essay ‘We Should All Be Feminists’, adapted from her 2012 TedTalk of the same name, is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in feminism’s importance in the 21st century.
Other feminist literature by Adichie includes ‘Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions’, written in the form of a letter to a friend on how to raise a feminist daughter.
For those of you who heard Elizabeth Day speak so wonderfully on Thursday 2nd March, I am sure you will be delighted to hear that Day has an episode of ‘How to Fail’ where she interviews Adichie – do look it up on your preferred podcast platform!
Holly Bourne, written by Archana Nadarajah
Holly Bourne is a British Author and a campaigner for feminism and gender equality. Some of her best novels are ‘What’s a Girl Gotta Do’ and ‘We Are All Snowflakes and Lemmings’.
I think that the former captures the essence of what it’s like advocating for gender equality in the 21st century whilst also incorporating themes that anyone could relate to. She uses her own lived experiences of sexism and turns out these fantastic novels that leave you thinking. She also has a blog where she tackles these themes.
Her definition of feminism as ‘a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of all genders, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, religion, ability and sexual orientation’ really sums up the emotions that so many women across the world relate to, and I think everyone can really take a leaf out of her book!
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, written by Maya Walker
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a truly inspirational woman, lawyer and jurist who served in the Supreme High Court until her death in 2020. She was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve in the Court. In her lifetime she wrote many notable majority opinions such as United States v. Virginia, Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw Environmental Services Inc. and many more.
Ginsburg is such a feminist icon because she spent nearly all her legal career advocating for gender equality and women’s rights. Her amazing dissenting opinion was even credited with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which was signed in 2009 to make it easier for employees to win pay discrimination claims in America.
Ginsburg was especially passionate about abortion, and once said in a 2009 interview ‘the basic thing is that the government has no business making that choice for a woman.’ She also asserted that the legislation of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt was not aimed at protecting women’s health, as Texas had said, but rather to impede women’s access to abortions.
If you would like to learn more about her amazing life then definitely go listen to RBG: Beyond Notorious on Spotify!
Laura Bates, written by Lena Claffey Grudzinska
Laura Bates is an iconic British writer, whose books generally revolve around feminist activism. Along with writing many insightful novels about the patriarchal prominence and misogyny in society, (e.g Men Who Hate Women, Everyday Sexism and Girl Up), she launched a website called Everyday Sexism, in which women and girls can talk about the sexism they have faced, which are disregarded and overlooked on a day-to-day basis. Every entry is very eye-opening of the casual micro-aggressions which reveal the harsh reality that this misogyny is completely unjust and needs to be fixed. In particular, her book Everyday Sexism is formatted in such a way that she allows victims of sexism to know that the ideals of gender equality are being abused right in front of us, and that this needs to end.
In an interview, Bates discussed her motivation behind launching the Every Day Sexism Project, and stated, “again and again, people told me sexism is no longer a problem – that women are equal now, more or less, and if you can’t take a joke or take a compliment, then you need to stop being so ‘frigid’ and get a sense of humour”, which only emphasises how undermined the extremity of sexism is, and how Laura Bates continues to use literature to express this dire predicament.
Jamie Loftus and Caitlin Durante, written by Milly Lovering
Jamie Loftus and Caitlin Durante host one of my personal favourite podcasts: the Bechdel Cast, where they have thoughtful, insightful, and often funny discussions about intersectional feminism and representation within the media, with a particular preference for the Feminist Classic: Titanic.
Not only this, but both are comedians and writers, with Jamie Loftus donating all proceeds from one show to planned Parenthood. She also does investigative journalism, creating additional podcasts My year in Mensa where she explores the society and the IQ tests problematic roots, and Ghost Church, an exploration in American spiritualism. Caitlin Durante has also hosted the podcast Sludge where they detail their struggles with pancreatitis and the removal of their gallbladder, highlighting issues within the American medical system. Both are huge inspirations to me and have educated me on subjects I had never even thought about.
