Women's Day

Today is the International Women’s Day. As far as I understand it celebrates the rights of women, so I thought it was a good occasion to write about something that has been on my mind a lot when I’ve been reading books and book reviews recently: the portrayal of women in books.

Obviously what follows is only my humble opinion. But you might know that I defend my opinions quite fiercely.

Now we’re going to play a game of guess who. I’m going to describe a character and you have to guess who it is.

My character is fiercely independent. My character is very good with a bow and knows how to trap animals and forage for food. My character can fight and wield a knife and climb trees. My character is emotionally confused and pretends to be in love only to survive.

Hands up if you think I am describing a guy.

Otherwise, you might have recognised Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games. That’s what started this whole debate for me.

I have to admit, I love the Hunger Games, I love Katniss Everdeen and she kicks ass. But I started getting annoyed at all the admiration for ‘such a strong female character’ and reviews like, ‘finally a strong female character’.

Yes, Katniss Everdeen is a strong character. There are many ways in which the story wouldn’t work if she had been a guy. But based on her personality and actions, you’d think she is male. Now some may argue that the fact we can’t tell is a good thing, bonus point for gender studies and all that. That’s not what bothers me.

What really irks me is that people only say female characters are strong when they are like men.

Where are all the articles praising Hermione, Molly Weasley, Cersei Lannister and Malta Vestrit?

Because there are many strong female characters in literature (and here my references are Fantasy, but I’m sure there are plenty of other examples). And they don’t have to be like men in order to be strong.

Hermione is the brain behind the trio (that’s Harry, Ron and Hermione) and a driving force behind their adventures. She gets things moving, has initiative, and she’s brave. She’s determined and stands up for what she believes in. She’s strong. But she’s definitely a girl, who worries about her hair and understands Harry’s girlfriend problems better than the two boys.

This is a difficult exercise, a sensitive topic and I’m trying very hard not to fall into clichés about what girls are meant to be like. You can argue all you want about whether or not men and women are different, but the fact is that the ‘women’ group is itself diverse. It annoys me that one way of being strong is being glorified, as if all the other more ‘female’ ways were weakness. If a character likes shopping and wears lipstick and wants to be pretty they are shallow, if a character doesn’t know how to fight physically then they are a damsel in distress, if a character is kind they are a Mary Sue.

JK Rowling made a superb comment about Molly Weasley being a stay-at-home mum and yet a strong character:

“I always saw Molly as a very good witch but someone whose light is necessarily hidden under a bushel, because she is in the kitchen a lot and she has had to raise, among others, George which is like, enough... I wanted Molly to have her moment and to show that because a woman had dedicated herself to her family does not mean that she doesn't have a lot of other talents.”

Another author who portrays female characters very well is Robin Hobb. Her books are wonderful because of the diversity in its characters, including the women. Take the Liveship Traders trilogy: there’s Althea Vestrit, who disguises herself as a man, but also Ronica, the matriarch who takes care of the family fortune and lands, and Malta, the spoiled brat whose hidden bravery we only find out later.

They’re all different. They’re all strong. And they’re all undeniably female. Can’t we celebrate them too?

Not that this is a purely female issue. When we will start celebrating Peeta Mellark for being compassionate instead of labelling him as weak (even though the guy can lift hundred pound bags of flour)? Why is it bad for a man to have women traits, but laudable for a woman to have men traits?

Fitz and the Fool - Art by A6A7

In Robin Hobb’s books, you have the Fool, whose gender we never really know, Fitz, who’s your typical strong man, and moody and frail Wintrow. Even her male characters are diverse.

Now a quick Google search has told me that I’m not alone in thinking that this whole 'strong female character' idea is backwards.

But these are important questions for me because, as I develop my characters, I have to think about the kind of people they are. Are they stereotypical? Do they encourage clichés about men and women? Do they appear strong?

My main character seems weak. She’s shy, scared of her own shadow and not particularly good at anything. She’s definitely not physically strong, she’s not particularly smart and she can’t fight. She doesn’t go looking for adventures. She doubts every decision she makes and cries easily.

But she has immense power of resilience and love. She’ll stand up for what she believes is right even though she’s scared shitless. To me, she’s strong. And she doesn’t need to know how to wield a sword to be so.