We’re back with this year’s Equality Now Feminist Culture Club, bringing you a roundup of recommendations from our staff and supporters of books, movies, TV shows, and podcasts that act as a megaphone for women’s rights. Want to read more? Head to our Feminist Culture Club archive.
Books
Agent Josephine by Damien Lewis
This book uncovers the little-known history of the famous singer’s life. Drawing on a plethora of new historical material and rigorous research, including previously unknown letters and journals, Lewis upends the conventional story of Josephine Baker, explaining why she fully deserves her unique place in the French Panthéon.
Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell
This book is a daring tale of female agency that reimagines the story of Jane Eyre as a queer feminist vigilante. It is a powerful account of the ways in which women and girls encounter violence and the bold initiatives they are developing to respond to it.
Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola
Love in Colour pulls ancient myths and folklore from across the globe and transforms them into powerful female-led love stories. Bolu Babalola modernizes the origin stories by removing the patriarchal elements.
How Many More Women? by Jennifer Robinson & Keina Yoshida
If women cannot speak about their abuse - and journalists are fearful of telling their stories – how can we understand the problem of gender-based violence in our society? And how can we even begin to end it? This book examines the laws around the world that silence women.
TV Programs
Julia
Julia tells the story of a legendary cookbook author who conquered the male-dominated culinary world and revolutionized the way people think about French cuisine. It is based on the true story of Julia Childs, who was the first woman to have a television show and the first woman to be inducted into the Culinary Institute of America’s Hall of Fame.
Consent
This TV drama is set at an elite school where the lines of sexual consent are dangerously blurred. This single-episode, hour-long drama demonstrates how schools’ failure to address a toxic classroom culture enables violence.
The Bold Type
Based on the experiences of former Cosmopolitan editor Joanna Coles, this comedy-drama is about three millennials working for a women’s magazine and examines some of the most poignant issues affecting young women today. The show explores storylines on the #MeToo movement, cross-cultural feminism, and ageism.
Films
Alice Darling
This is a compelling female friendship thriller that follows Alice, a 30-year-old successful woman trapped in an abusive relationship. The film portrays the story of a woman in the beginnings of leaving an emotionally abusive relationship, and her longtime friends as the catalyst that set off her journey back to reality.
Women Talking
Women Talking is adapted from a novel by Miriam Toews. It tells the story of Mennonite women who faced sexual violence. Based on a true story that took place in Bolivia in 2005 in a Mennonite community in the Latin American nation, where women and children were drugged and raped and told that their attackers were ghosts and demons. It is an exquisite critique of patriarchal culture.
The Woman King
Set in the 1800s, the Woman King depicts the story of a group of all-female warriors who protect the African kingdom of Dahomey with skills and fierceness, unlike anything the world has ever seen. It showcases the strength and bond of women and the men who aren’t afraid of that strength.
Mrs Chatterjee vs. Norway
This movie explores the theme of immigration in a unique and compelling way. The India-Hindi language film revolves around a mother’s fight to regain custody of her son, who was taken away from her by the Norwegian Child Welfare Services. It is based on the true story of Sagarika Bhattacharya and her battle against the Norwegian foster care system in 2011.
True Spirit
True Spirit is a 2023 Australian biographical drama film directed by Sarah Spillane. The film is based on the 2010 memoir of the same name by Jessica Watson, an Australian sailor who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal after attempting a solo global circumnavigation at the age of 16.
Blue Jean
This movie is set in 1980s Britain, as Thatcher’s government was enacting the infamous Section 28 bill, that instructed British state schools not to “promote the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”. Section 28 and the homophobia it perpetuated forces Jean, a PE teacher in a secondary school to live a double life. Directed by Georgia Oakley, the film draws on the real-life experiences of PE teachers in Thatcher’s Britain.
Podcasts
An Idiot’s Guide To Saving The World
Hosted by Gail Gallie and Loyiso Madinga, this podcast takes you on a journey across the globe to the people on the frontline; those who are affected and those making a difference.
I Weigh
On I Weigh, Jameela Jamil challenges societal norms through conversations with thought-leaders, performers, activists, influencers, and friends. The podcast amplifies and empowers diverse voices in an accessible way to celebrate progress, not perfection.
Do you have any suggestions for us to share next month? Please send them to us at supporters@equalitynow.org; we’d love to hear from you!
Achieving gender equality will happen faster if everyone takes up the challenge. Equality Now is proud to stand with No nonsense in our shared commitment to enduring, inclusive equality for women & girls.
