In Her Words Book Review

In Her Words is a compilation of the stories of fifteen African women and their unique experiences with gender inequality and feminism in their different societies. These women reflect on their feminist journeys and how different experiences in their lives influenced the opinions they have now.

Reading this book was an amazing experience, a learning experience I am glad to have had the opportunity to be part of. I can confidently say the way I looked at certain issues at the beginning of the book is different from the way I look at them now that I’ve finished reading it.

All the contributions from the women were so well explained and so clear. I felt like I was getting an insight into some really amazing minds. A lot of the cultures and societies which were referred to vary from my own but the way in which the writers explained their experiences in these different societies was so well executed that I was drawn in and I got a much better understanding of issues I previously did not understand particularly well prior to taking some time to read their thoughts and perspectives.

All the voices in this book were unique and fresh and there was something to learn from each woman’s writing. All of the writers were clearly passionate about getting their messages across clearly and helping readers get a better understanding of what women go through and the feminist movement as a whole. The lessons and messages were delivered extremely well and extremely clearly. There were no riddles, no implicit messages, only straight truths.

So many quotes in this book caught my attention and stayed with me, and will stay with me for years to come in my own feminist journey.

I became a feminist before I knew what the word meant. Because even the child somehow knew that outside the bubble of her nuclear family, this society is not configured to have the backs of women and girls. I have my sisters ’ backs. I am on my own team. – Tawakalit Kareem

Here’s another quote that stuck with me

Society says here are boxes. Boxes for men and boxes for women. Feminism asks, why do these boxes exist? What purpose do they serve? Do these boxes benefit the people in them or the spectators outside them? Zainab Haruna

These are only two quotes of so many beautiful ones t hat I resonated with in this book, the tip of the feminist iceberg so to speak. I recommend this book to every single person out there. All genders, all races, all cultures and religions and sexual orientations. If you have some time to spare, I strongly encourage you to read this book, in order to obtain a better understanding of what I believe is one of the most misunderstood movements out there. I give this book five stars. I learnt a lot and I realized there is so much more we all need to learn as a society. This is the type of book that starts some really important discussions, and I am glad I get to share it with all of you this woman’s month. Happy reading!