I love reading books about women and nothing pleases me more than discovering new female characters from history who have pushed the boundaries or been courageous in the face of hardship, all in the name of women’s rights. And this is one of the things that Karen Gilden does in this book: she points her reader towards influential figures, a lot of them women (but not all) who have furthered the reputation of women or been proponents of the search for equality or even just been exceptional people (who happen to be women).
This is a tour through history with a female perspective to some degree and as the title suggests, Gilden starts at what is considered by Christians the very beginning – with Eve and the original temptation. Gilden discusses this as a biblical story but also in terms of the shadow that it has since cast for women everywhere in terms of blaming them for, well, a lot. This may or may not have started the vilification of women by some men, or at least, set out the first stone on the path to subduing females as lesser beings but Gilden’s book proposes the discussion of this and how Eve has been held up as an example of what women are. What Gilden is excellent at is offering many more examples and considerably more positive ones at that, who have been largely overlooked as they do not support the patriarchal view of male supremacy that needs to be upheld at all cost.
Gilden takes the life that she has known as a woman and a lot of what she has learnt in the living of that life as a framework on which to hang a discussion of women, feminism, womanhood – whatever you want to call it. Her book is a blend of memoir mixed with history as well as the previously mentioned biblical discussion but she also draws on classical mythology and cites quotes from academic texts and researchers, making for a nuanced read. There is an obvious purpose in writing this but it’s not didactic – it’s a view expressed intelligently with resources and research to reinforce it.
Gilden is keen to highlight the fact that women should be respected and at the forefront, not merely sidelined to the home: this is a role that has importance but it is not all that women can be.
Rachel Rating:
This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC.
Scuffed Granny 