“I no longer read books written by men,“ says writer Viv Albertine in an interview that a friend recommended to me. Wow, she’s missing out a lot, that’s what I think immediately when I read it. Maybe that’s true, but we should start thinking about how much we miss out because we are used to reading books “written by white middle-class men”, as Albertine puts it.
The last five books you read – are they written by men or women? And now look into the categories: Fiction might be 50/50, but how about advice, let alone science books? Men are still explaining the world to us, and we miss the view of 50 percent of the population. Next question: Do men read books written by women? Hardly – they are for women, aren’t they? You get it. It is pure habit. So let’s read only women’s books for a few years to change that.
Here are some of my favorite books by and with strong women, that really supported me in my money journey:
Sheryl Sandberg: Lean In
The book will bring you forward, because you will recognize mechanisms of inequality, especially in professional life, and you will get strategies to handle them.
For those who can also read German: Please also check out onAlexandra Zykonov: Wir sind doch alle längst gleichberechtigt.She reveals the structural inequality of women and men in Germany. Once you have read it, you will see gender roles in Germany with different eyes and you will have less difficulty dealing with the topic of (earning) money.
Gretchen Rubin: Better than before (Also available in German language.)
Supports you to reinvent yourself, because it shows you how to turn bad habits – for example in dealing with money – into good ones.
Marie Kondo: Magic Cleaning
Helps you get ahead, because her decluttering method supports you to find out what you really want and need to have in life (and what you don’t need, so you don’t have to spend money on it anymore).
What are the books written by women that did support and inspire you?
