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We Should All Be Feminists
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This extended essay first started out as a popular TEDx talk by Adichie. The humorous yet observant piece deconstructs the notion of feminism for the 21st century reader and explores what it means to be a woman today. Beyonce’s ***Flawless video features Adichie reading verses from the essay, while fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri featured T-shirts adorned with the phrase “We Should All Be Feminists” for her first show as artistic director for Dior.
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The Yellow Wallpaper
by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
This 6,000-word short story was first published in 1982, and is regarded as one of the most important early pieces of feminist literature. It starkly illustrates attitudes of 19th-century men towards women’s mental health, ending in a dark plot twist which has divided critics for years over whether the character ends up liberated or repressed.
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I Love Dick
by Chris Kraus
The publication of “I Love Dick” in 1997 instantly stirred up a great deal of controversy while amassing a legion of devoted admirers. Its semi-confessional, insightful and terribly funny prose challenges sexism in the arts and academia in a way that hadn’t been done before. The now legendary book went on to heavily influence other female writers such as Miranda July and Lena Dunham who even calls it “her bible”.
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Things I Don’t Want to Know
by Deborah Levy
“Things I Don’t Want to Know” was written in response to George Orwell’s famous 1946 essay “Why I Write,” successfully reviving the essay as a respected literary form. Levy chronicles a story about Apartheid, childhood fears, and her impulse to write all about it.
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Bad Feminist
by Roxanne Gay
“Bad Feminist” is a collection of essays by the American feminist writer, professor, editor and commentator Roxanne Gay. She embraces her imperfection as a feminist, accepting and celebrating the label of “bad feminist” because she is human and is flawed, just like everybody else. This collection makes for a sharp yet funny read whilst closely examining the amalgamation between modern culture and our own identity.
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The Second Sex
by Simone de Beauvoir
Existentialist Simone de Beauvoir’s 20th-century masterwork examines the treatment of women throughout history whilst analysing the Western notion of the “woman”. Beauvoir claimed that “The Second Sex” was an attempt to explain “why a woman’s situation, still, even today, prevents her from exploring the world’s basic problems.” This infamous book is essential for your path to feminist enlightenment.
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A Room of One’s Own
by Virginia Woolf
This extended essay by Woolf is based on a series of lectures she delivered at two women’s colleges in 1928, and argues for much-needed space for female writers within a literary tradition dictated by the patriarchy. The collection covers the topics of women’s access to education, lesbianism, and the history of female writers who have come before Woolf.
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A Girl is a Half-formed Thing
by Eimear McBride
Eimear McBride’s debut novel details the story of a young Irish woman’s journey through domestic life, which includes family violence, sexuality and trauma. McBride wrote the novel in a mere 6 months; however, she spent the next nine years trying to get the book published. Beware, this novel does not make for light reading.
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The Feminine Mystique
by Betty Friedan
Friedan’s 1963 book became widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the US, a period of increased feminist activity which spread through the West and beyond. This feminist classic explores what Friedan calls “the problem that has no name” – the widespread unhappiness experienced by women in the 1950s and early 1960s.
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Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto In Fifteen Suggestions
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This powerful statement written in the form of a letter was written by Adichie after she received a letter from a friend asking how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. This “manifesto” is the author’s letter of response, made up of 15 compelling suggestions for a mother to encourage her daughter to grow into a strong woman.