In celebration of International Women’s Day, this year’s theme is Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow #BreakTheBias
ALT brings to you must read book recommendations from talented female writes in relation to this year’s theme.
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence Given | £7.99
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty is an accessible entry point into progressive feminist discussion, covering topics such as body image, toxic beauty standards, and identity-building in a world still plagued by misogyny and sexism.
Bringing you the record-breaking, bestselling Women Don’t Owe You Pretty as a black and white modern classic.
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty will tell you to…
love sex, hate sexism,
protect your goddamn energy,
life is short, dump them,
And that you owe men nothing, least of all pretty.
Florence’s debut book will explore all progressive corners of the feminist conversation; from insecurity projection and refusing to find comfort in other women’s flaws, to deciding whether to date or dump them, all the way through to unpacking the male gaze and how it shapes our identity.
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty is an accessible leap into feminism, for people at all stages of their journey who are seeking to reshape and transform the way they view themselves. In a world that tells women we’re either not enough or too much, it’s time we stop directing our anger and insecurities onto ourselves and start fighting back to re-shape the toxic structures of our patriarchal society.
After all, you are the love of your own life.
See here to purchase.
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | £5.99
Taken from her globally influential TED talk, this is Ngozi Adichie’s feminist manifesto. A powerful, personal essay of hope and ambition for a better, fairer world: required reading.
A personal and powerful essay from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the bestselling author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun.
`I would like to ask that we begin to dream about and plan for a different world. A fairer world. A world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves. And this is how to start: we must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently…’
What does “feminism” mean today?
In this personal, eloquently argued essay – adapted from her much-admired TEDx talk of the same name – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness.
Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now – an off-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists.
Read more here
Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis | £9.99
Ranging from the age of slavery to contemporary injustices, this ground-breaking history of race, gender and class inequality by the radical political activist Angela Davis offers an alternative view of female struggles for liberation.
Tracing the intertwined histories of the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements, Davis examines the racism and class prejudice inherent in so much of white feminism, and in doing so brings to light new pioneering heroines, from field slaves to mill workers, who fought back and refused to accept the lives into which they were born.
‘The power of her historical insights and the sweetness of her dream cannot be denied’ The New York Times
Find here
(Image: Angela Davis speaking at a street rally in 1974. Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive)
The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer | £9.99
The freedom I pleaded for…was freedom to be a person, with dignity, integrity, nobility, passion, pride.
A worldwide bestseller, translated into over twelve languages, The Female Eunuch is a landmark in the history of the women’s movement.
Drawing liberally from history, literature and popular culture, past and present, Germaine Greer’s searing examination of women’s oppression is at once an important social commentary and a passionately argued masterpiece of polemic.
Probably the most famous, most widely read book on feminism ever written, The Female Eunuch remains one of the most important publications of the second wave feminist movement. Find this masterpiece here
In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of colour (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown).
The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful women continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our cultures.
Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny and sincere look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better.
Find out more here
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women White Feminists Forgot by Mikki Kendall | £9.99
A bold, brave and insightful book about how the multiplicity of twenty-first century narratives intersect and conflict, Hood Feminism argues that feminism is in danger of losing its way if it does not embrace wider issues of race, gender and class. Deploying provocative arguments and reaching controversial conclusions, Kendall’s incendiary volume is an urgently needed modern manifesto.
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All too often the focus of mainstream feminism is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. Meeting basic needs is a feminist issue. Food insecurity, the living wage and access to education are feminist issues. The fight against racism, ableism and transmisogyny are all feminist issues.
White feminists often fail to see how race, class, sexual orientation and disability intersect with gender. How can feminists stand in solidarity as a movement when there is a distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others?
Insightful, incendiary and ultimately hopeful, Hood Feminism is both an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux and also clear-eyed assessment of how to save it.
Read more here
