Difficult Women

A phenomenal book. Wonderfully written and thought provoking, I already know a number of people who will be getting it for their birthday this year. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in return for my unbiased review.

Feminism isn't a single idea, and is interpreted differently by every individual and their experiences. 'Difficult Women' never professes to be the definitive guide to what feminism is, but rather it is a book that is just one interpretation and one voice. However, what it does do is link a number of historical battles and difficult women together, distilled into 11 categories spill into the modern feminist era. I took a lot away from from this. From the different women that are given a fresh voice, to hearing how each of them define how they view feminism or their fight for equality was incredibly facinating. None of these women are perfect, all are difficult, and all of them are complicated individuals. 

Some of these women included Annie Kenny, who was deeply involved in the Suffragette movement. Exasperated at lack of movement towards women's votes, she moved towards more extreme forms of activism in a heavily male dominated legal system. Any woman who fought for these rights was played down, brushed off as unimportant. Helen Lewis really helped bring to life what Annie Kenny was a person, a working class woman who just wanted to have what men had, and has somehow been left to fall into obscurity because she never fitted the Suffragette narrative of this upper class, well spoken woman. 

There's also Marie Stopes, who was one for the first to grant access to birth control to desperate women. Her clinics granted women a degree of sexual liberation they'd never seen before, yet she was also incredibly snobbish, conservative, anti semetic and anti lesbian. She believed in eugenics and was also vehemently against abortion. Difficult women are not perfect, and sometimes their agenda, although good for the masses, is undertaken for selfish and flawed reasons. 

The chapter of time was perhaps the most personal for me. It talks of the divergence of pay between men and women in their 30s, as women move to part time and unskilled work in order to take on the role of motherhood and child carer as this is what society has come to expect of women. Women as a result have less downtime, and less free time in general compared to their male counterparts because society often makes us feel guilty into doing the majority of the housework and organising. Our time never seems to be our own, and this rang so true for myself as a mother. 

Interesting deep dive into some facinating 'difficult women' that helps open the doors into further research on feminism and equal rights.

This is a rich text, from which I learned a great deal. Lewis tells the stories of a number of women of whom I had never heard. The book is, overall, a good introduction to the systemic nature of the patriarchy (in the UK, at least) and a demonstration of how it remains embedded in today's social structures. I like the premise of 'Difficult Women': that we need to avoid flattening histories or "cancelling" pioneers in our understanding of feminist progress. Indeed, to do so plays into the anti-feminist idea that women must be perfect, quiet and, crucially, not difficult. There are elements of Lewis' feminism with which I disagree and these often appear in those (few) moments where her voice feels louder than others. Mostly Lewis is good at passing the mic and presenting key issues as open-ended debate. She is both pragmatic and forceful in her prose, and I think that the full breadth of her personality comes through in her narration of the audiobook.

I got this as an audiobook from Netgalley. I found it interesting to listen to and it highlighted some women I didn’t know about which was interesting. There were some women I knew of or have heard about before. There is a range of topics addressed which I found good. Some chapters were more interesting to me than others. 

It isn’t my usual kind of book but I did enjoy it and the author also narrates the books which I liked. I found the narrator easy to listen to and I liked her voice. I didn’t lose focus anywhere. I listened to this on a higher speed and it sounded okay too.

Genre: Non-Fiction

Release Date: 27th February 2020



 When you hear the word 'fight' what do you see? Men, probably. Well this book is here to change your outlook. The fight for feminism was paved with women who weren't afraid to be everything they've been told not to be - vulgar, loud, outspoken, difficult and completely inspiring. 

But what does difficult mean? The dictionary would say "A person not easy to please or satisfy; awkward." But here, difficult means proud, it means independent, it means a woman who is willing to fight for her rights and won't be defined by the roles given to her by men.

In this book you'll meet eleven such women, from lesbian politicians, riot starters, the women who finally started to demand good sex, and one who was obviously not sleeping with the prime minister... depending on who you ask. 

Helen Lewis gives a fresh and unconventional history of feminism in it's raw, uncensored and unequivocally unfinished glory. Drawing back to the sparks that started the fire in all of us right up to the battles we are still fighting in today - this book gives an amazing and in depth overview of the untold history of women that won't fail to inspire and empower. 



RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐



Thank you to Helen Lewis and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this audiobook, it was really thought provoking highlighted how patriarchy is still embedded in our society and social structures. 

There were some women mentioned in this book that I hadn't even heard of before.

This was a fab audiobook. It was fascinating to hear about the difficult women who have challenged the world to shape the experiences of us women in certain areas. The audiobook being read by the author sounds like a longer more in depth podcast. Would definitely recommend!