Book: Herlands: Lessons from Societies Where Women Make the Rules by Megha Mohan

Only weeks after I bought this did I notice I had previously put it on my recommended list. On a road trip in Wiltshire, I walked into The White Horse bookshop in Marlborough, was immediately drawn to it, and bought it on the spot. Untypical of me.

Herlands delivers what it promises: an exploration of places, both historically and today, that are either ruled by women or sacred just for women. Some are trans/lesbian/black friendly and some, just like society, are less so. And all have provided shelter for women.

Most memorable is the secret Chinese women-only language and the women-only spaces deep in rural right-wing America founded by lesbian women. There are no people of colour in those.

However, the story of the African Rain Queen immediately made me look up the rest of the story, particularly as I have my first trip to South Africa this year.

There are women-only spaces created by men, like the ‘period huts’ for menstruating women in Nepal. And there are those created and run by men for divorced women and those escaping domestic violence.

You know you'll be relaxed if you can live without that threat.

I am disappointed at how quickly men were able to shut down an online women-only space in S Korea, and yet this is the world's worst place for spy cam use. And that is in most of the world. Men who do wrong are not held accountable and yet women who have done less harm are hunted down immediately. 

The only irritating thing was the constant reference to ‘zoomed’. Do we say I ‘O2’d’ or I ‘Sky’d’ someone on the rare occasion we make a call on a mobile? It also dates the book very quickly. It obviously irked me, as I mentioned it three times in my notes while I was reading.

But throw in facts such as 11% of the world’s gold is owned by Indian women (not me), and that Kerala’s female literacy rate is 95%, the highest in India, I’m listening.

As Gloria Steinem says on the cover, it is fascinating. And I loved the author talking about her own family history, which led down this wonderful path of Herlands.

A must-read that would do well to be considered for the school curriculum/

I now need to get used to saying womyn or wommon, which removes the maleness.