Empowering Women in Fiction

I did not shop on Black Friday. Instead my husband and I accompanied our younger son, his wife, and three young children into Manhattan to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Our daughter-in-law actually did the driving. Having worked in the city for a number of years, she’s comfortable driving there and knows Manhattan very well.

We offered to pay for parking but she insisted on first looking for a spot. This turned up rather quickly. But the car that left the spot was smaller than the large SUV. Our son questioned his wife’s ability to park in that small spot. However, she was confident.

“I can do it,” she said. And she did! On the very first try at that. She parallel parked into a space that left barely an inch in front and back without touching the other cars. I confess it amazed me.

This kind of female empowerment is impressive. Recently, I discovered that the reason the editors of The Novel Fox chose DEATH LEGACY to be featured by their new publishing house was because Michelle Hallam, heroine and protagonist, is an empowered woman. Instead of a female who needs protecting, she runs her own unique “consulting” firm, is a master of martial arts and weaponry. She won’t rest until the bad guys get what they deserve. http://www.thenovelfox.com/death-legacy

In THE BAD WIFE, 4^th novel in the Kim Reynolds mystery series, Kim, a quiet, introverted librarian of strong moral character and unwanted psychic abilities, solves murders. She teams up with tough Bert St. Croix, police detective and woman of color, to save Lt. Mike Gardner’s life. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J6PCKVW    

There are many empowered women in mystery fiction, Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple for one. The P.I. novel was male-dominated until the late 1970’s and early 80’s when writers such as Sara Paretsky, Marcia Miller and Sue Grafton began creating women investigators who were as tough as men. These novels offered more in-depth characterization and, in the case of Paretsky, a social agenda.  

In romance fiction, no longer is the-too-dumb-to-live female in distress who needs rescuing particularly popular. Women want to read about females with strength of character who are the equal and can go toe to toe with an alpha male.

Today, more women than ever have an “I can do” philosophy like my daughter-in-law who runs her own business, nurtures her three children, is a supportive wife and maintains a positive attitude. That sense of female empowerment is increasingly reflected in literature.

Your comments welcome here. What empowered female characters can you think of? As a reader and/or writer what books reflecting female empowerment would you recommend, your own or those of others?