To celebrate International Women's Day, we've put together a program that's all about women! Readings, podcasts, illustrations... discover our recommendations for a wonderful Women's Day. Enjoy!
Take some time for yourself in a place of your own
Reading or rereading Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own on International Women's Day is like immersing yourself in one of the defining moments of feminist literature. Published in Great Britain in 1929, this essay was long known as A Room of One's Own. Its translator, Marie Darrieussecq, rightly points out that women don't need a bedroom, but rather a room of their own to create, imagine, and write. The original English title is A Room of One's Own, not A Bedroom...
The book was born from a pretext: a conference on the theme of women and fiction that Virginia Woolf had to prepare. A reflection on the place of women in literature followed. Why aren't there more female authors? The answer is clear: women don't have their own money, aren't allowed to work (except for all the activities related to their homes, which are often exhausting), and, above all, they don't have a place of their own to isolate themselves. In literature, women are mostly represented through characters, most of the time through the prism of a male gaze. A superb text which, although dating from the beginning of the last century, retains all its modernity.
Listen to Girls of Struggle, what is passed down from mother to daughter
In their podcast Filles de lutte (Filmes of Struggle), Ilham Maad and Merry Royer question the transmission of feminist values by giving a voice to the daughters of... feminists! What kind of woman do you become when you're born with a spoonful of feminism in your mouth, bottle-fed on ideas of women's emancipation? The podcast shows how these women appropriated this heritage with a raised fist, and how they built themselves in relation to their mother, before becoming one themselves. In the first episode, Marie, the daughter of Marisabel Baylion, one of the pioneers of the Women's Liberation Movement (MLF), explains her quest for identity in the face of her mother's strong personality. We laugh when she recounts her shame in front of her mother's hairy armpits during parent-teacher meetings!
Enter the girl power universe of Eugénie de Besse
Eugénie de Besse is an illustrator, and on her Instagram account @eugeniedbart, she immerses us in her world of positivity and girl power. The young woman from Reims posts sparkling and sweet illustrations.
Her drawings address current issues that affect women, such as the body positivity movement, self-acceptance, cyberbullying, and consent, always with a touch of poetry and kindness. She also collaborated with a clothing brand to mark International Women's Day.
What were feminists thinking?
Available on Netflix, the documentary Feminists: What Were They Thinking? documents the feminist awakening of the 1970s. Director Johanna Demetrakas draws on the photographs of Cynthia MacAdams, who photographed women between 1974 and 1977 at a time in their lives when they were coming to terms with who they were. Forty years later, Johanna Demetrakas interviews the intellectuals, artists, and activists they have become. They tell us about their feminism and their anecdotes, such as the home economics classes where young girls were graded on their ability to cook and change diapers! The back-and-forth between the world of the 1970s and today shows us how far women's rights have come.
(Re)listen to the playlist “Hop Girls!”
Let's move the sofa and turn up the music! The Haut les filles! playlist was specially curated by France Inter for International Women's Day 2020. Dance to Just Like a Woman by Nina Simone, sway your hips to Sorry by Beyoncé, sing along to Besoin de personne by Véronique Sanson, and let yourself be captivated by the words of La Grenade by Chiara Luciani. 3 hours of pure joy to the sound of iconic songs that celebrate women. A 100% feminine playlist with eclectic styles that will please everyone. Let's dance!