Review – In Her Words: 7 Issues in 7 Days
Image: People by TréVoy Kelly (CC0)
5 out of 5 stars
“In Her Words: 7 Issues in 7 Days” is a short series from the New York Times that focuses on the ways that women are held back in the modern world. After you sign up for the free subscription to the series, you will receive one article each day for the next week. The articles are brief, well-written, and sure to fire up your inner feminist.
The first article, “A World Made for Men,” is written by Emma Goldberg and summarizes the ways the needs of women are ignored in our society. From designing cars to protect men - and only men - in the case of a crash to excluding women in medical trials, we ignore, mostly unintentionally, the differences between genders. This ignorance that is rampant in our society has countless negative impacts on women, something that Goldberg conveys adeptly.
In “Who’s Doing the Dishes,” the second article, Francesca Donner writes about the unpaid labor that is primarily done by women and how it has held us back in the workplace. This unpaid labor is anything from taking care of children to doing the laundry, and it has been a large part of the struggle that has for decades prevented women from being on equal footing with men in the workplace. This unbalanced division of unpaid labor has only been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, as many women are now not only working from home but also being responsible for the education of their children.
The following articles, written by various women, relate the numerous other ways that society is designed for men and only men. I particularly enjoyed the sixth article, “Women in Politics” by Jennifer Steinhauer. I am very interested in politics and was fascinated to learn that women occupy only around a quarter of the seats in Congress, which forces Congresswomen from both parties to band together if they want to accomplish anything. This article is one of the series’ most pertinent ones, as oftentimes the only way to come closer to gender equality is to have more women in positions of political power.
From the domestic violence that haunts countless women to the beauty standards that hold us back in our careers, these authors don’t hold back when it comes to talking about gender inequality. I give this series 5 out of 5 stars. This series is a must-read for anyone who cares about equality in America.
