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WHEN ASKED TO speak at a conference at Durham University for International Women’s Day this year, I thought back to the books I loved as a child, considering how they may have influenced gender roles in my own writing.
In Lord of the Flies, The Little Prince, The Hobbit, Peter Pan, and others, there was no shortage of complex male characters to be imprinted on my mind, but I wondered if I’d had the same level of exposure to interesting girls and women in literature. Scrolling through the list of titles, I realised I had read far more male authors than female, though the books in question weren’t necessarily light on female characters.
Roald Dahl showed no apparent preference for leading girls or boys, with two of his main characters, Matilda and The BFG’s Sophie, being amongst my favourites. Little Women, Alice in Wonderland, To Kill a Mockingbird, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, Charlotte’s Web – all feature an array of female roles that are warm, willful, courageous, kind, conscientious, loyal and impetuous. However, though many of these characters displayed less favourable traits, they were often condemned or punished for them.
An adored childhood character – Pippi Longstocking
Fortunately, I was reminded of a wonderfully flawed character that I had adored as a child, and almost forgotten as an adult. I couldn’t give you a synopsis of any of the Pippi Longstocking books, but the girl herself made a big impact when I read Astrid Lindgren’s stories.
Pippi was physically strong (supernaturally so), entirely independent and, in some ways, smart as a whip, but her appeal for me lay in her apparent failings. Her looks are not described in flattering terms – her mouth is too wide, her nose is like a small potato, and her pigtails stand out straight from her head; she is sarcastic almost to the point of being obnoxious – when a man mistakenly believes her cottage is for sale and expresses a wish to tear it down, her mocking goes as far as pulling boards off the side of the house; she is well-travelled but poorly educated, unabashed and unpredictable.
In the hands of another author Pippi could have been unpleasant, but Lindgren’s adoration for the red-haired Swede clearly extends to every aspect of her personality. It is Pippi’s undesirable traits, together with the desirable ones, that make her so likeable.
A girl is usually the voice of reason, not comic relief
Nowadays, the demand for strong female characters has led to more variety amongst girls in children’s literature, which is a great improvement, but with the pressure on writers to produce stronger females, do we overshoot and get ‘infallible’ rather than ‘convincing’ women and girls? Is it all or nothing?
In taking the phrase ‘strong female’ too literally, are we setting an unrealistic standard for fictional women and girls? Should the phrase instead be ‘convincing female’?
There is still a straightness, a prudence, about girls in children’s literature that doesn’t quite ring true. Rarely is a girl the source of comic relief; she is almost always the sensible voice of reason. Leading males can occasionally be silly, disgusting, disruptive, brashly dim-witted, all in a sympathetic light, but these attributes in girls are either non-existent or a damning confirmation of an unpleasant personality.
It seems that girls have less leeway to demonstrate unflattering traits, and still be considered acceptable leads. In our efforts to push for more powerful literary females, are we ending up with girls that don’t have the luxury of faults?
Was I letting the female side down by having a ‘weak’ girl character?
I like to think myself immune to any pressure to write ‘strong female characters’, but I know I’m not. I know because when I started writing the third book in ‘The Demon Notebook’ series I became concerned that I was dropping the ball with one of the main characters.
She is not academically bright, not the bravest, not physically the most capable, and is the least talented in the group. I was suddenly worried that I was letting the female side down by having a ‘weak’ girl character. I resolved to ‘fix’ her by the end of the third book with a rapid progression in her skills, or by the discovery of a new talent that no-one else possesses. In the finished draft, though, I failed to add this twist – if I’m honest, I completely forgot about it – and squashing it in afterwards didn’t seem right.
Surely, in the writing, it would have become part of the story if I had felt that was the direction she should take. Rethinking it, I got annoyed at myself for presuming she needed to change at all. She is not particularly smart, but very vocal when she doesn’t understand. She is not skilled, but fires ahead anyway. She makes bad jokes, shows poor judgement, is inappropriate and unpredictable enough to totally change the mood or outcome of a scene. I realise now she is one of the strongest characters in the series, and one of the most useful.
Don’t forget the ‘strong male character’
Because I loosely based the characters in this series on my secondary school friends, I have written far more female roles than male, and it is the girls who have to battle evil and carry off all the action scenes.
As I move on to other books, I’m wondering if I’m one of those few writers who should consider the strength of my male characters. I could test this by delaying the assignment of gender (probably easier with child rather than adult characters) until halfway through the story, and seeing if I have a tendency to make males less complex.
It’s going against the grain a little, but I want to make sure that in creating convincing girls and women, I don’t forget the ‘strong male character’.
Erika McGann is the author of Demon Notebook, The Broken Spell, The Watching Wood and The Midnight Carnival, and The Fairytale Trap, Ireland’s 2015 World Book Day book www.worldbookday.com
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Maybe Galway CoCo should stick to their job – running the city & county- and worry less about thing that have nothing to do with them
@Peter Buchanan: Rte join a boycott. Get real ,when Smith returns having sided with genocide she will be hosted and given oxygen on the late late show. RTE seems to think there a private enterprise rather that a company owed by tax payers.
@Daithi Ó Raghallaigh: As a matter of interest, who is Smith?
@Paddy J: I’m presuming the singer?
@Daithi Ó Raghallaigh:
The vast majority of Irish people have no issue with Ireland taking part in the Eurovision in Israel.
@Paddy J: Lisa Smith joined her brother’s in IS
@Daithi Ó Raghallaigh: Ah right
@CrabaRev: I would agree. There is no evidence that the public are remotely interested in a boycott. Best of luck to Sarah!
@Peter Buchanan: and this motion was brought forward by probably the least ethical person in Galway CC, and that is saying something – not elected to the council, but still keeping severance pay https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/returning-councillor-can-keep-severance-pay-rx7jpd6sz
I voted for her sister in the General election, but I regret it now.
@Paddy J: there is evidence that no one is interested in boycotting as they could only muster 15000 signatures to petition RTE
@Stephen Coughlan: very interesting Stephen. So about 0.4% of adults in the country signed the petition for a boycott. Usual suspects calling for a boycott are out of touch with reality ….again.
@Paddy J: a very loud minority as usual.
@Peter Buchanan: maybe someone from Wicklow should not be bothered what the Galway council does
@Peter Buchanan: maybe someone from Wicklow should not be bothered what the Galway council does
@Peter Buchanan: maybe someone from Wicklow should not be bothered what the Galway council does
@Peter Buchanan: maybe someone from Wicklow should not be bothered what the Galway council does
@George Bradley: maybe an unelected councillor from Galway shouldn’t be bothered with virtue signalling about another country.
@CrabaRev: you are so wrong.
@Peter Buchanan: Funny but that’s exactly what London though about the Irish Famine in the 1840s. Nothing to do with us.
@Peter Buchanan: It wasn’t Galway CoCo it was Galway C.C. and you obviously don’t understand the notions of international solidarity or protection of human rights, or standing against war crimes.
@CrabaRev: and you know that how…?
@Daithi Ó Raghallaigh: sorry, read your comment incorrectly. I don’t give it a thumbs up actually.
@Stephen Coughlan: the on-line petition was only 1 method. There were hard copies being signed all over adding thousands to the total number, and people are still signing.
@Paddy J: no.
@Stephen Coughlan: There is nothing wrong with loud minorities per say. sometimes that is how progressive change starts. It’s important to have people who care enough to be bothered or who are not of the ‘well, I’m all-right-Jack’ mentality and care about more than just themselves.
Maybe fix shop street first
@bmul: yes, and fix sign street too
@bmul: it’s not an either/ or
Galway is and always has been a Mecca for Gob.shites.
@davey boy: how long you lived there
@bmul: Very poor.
@davey boy: would love to see you quote/reference just 6 examples throughout history to date.
Is that all they have to sorry about?
@Sean Leonard: *worry (typo)
Do they not know that the Irish delegation is already in Tel Aviv rehearsing?
@Jonathan Baum: Outcome is irrelevant to people like this. The only aim of such things is to signal how “woke” and “aware” they are. This is what leads them to celebrate the legacy of mass murderers and tyrants like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara – as they have done so shamelessly in recent years.
@Damon16: the outcome they have in mind is the council elections and getting her name in the news. Probably a good idea as Galway people didn’t elect her, she was co-opted in to take the seat if her sister Catherine Connolly and still kept her severance package from when she lost her council seat, much to Galwegians anger. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/returning-councillor-can-keep-severance-pay-rx7jpd6sz
@Joe Vlogs: Nail on the head there.
Ah Journal enough of the anti Eurovision articles every 2.5 seconds!
@Joey Casey: people just seem to either hate it or ignore it
@Joey Casey: a lover of eurovision, joey?
@Joey Casey: shows the level of feeling against Israel hosting it. It’s not anti-Eurovision, it’s anti-apartheid.
It starts in 3 hours
Build a bridge get over it
@Fran O’Keeffe: tell that to the people of Palistine.
@Ruairsmcsturs: they are more used to building tunnels actually.
We should be hearing this kind of talk in the Dáil, not galway co. Council.
@Wastrel: I agree, but if Government’s won’t act- then the people will.
I don’t get the Irish analogy. I don’t recall Collins or De Valera trying to wipe out Britain as a soverign entity or to deny the right of the English to soverignty in England. Unless of course, the councillor is implying that Israelis are an occupying force in the internationally recognised state of Israel. And if that is what she believes then she must also believe that Australians are occupying Australia etc. Likely, Galway city councillors couldn’t even the point to the region on a map, let alone know the history of the conflict. They should spend more time updating their traffic management policies and the like. We dont have city councilors to virtue signal on international conflicts they know nothing about.
@Damon16: A very well worded and reasoned comment.
@Damon16: If you can’t see the Irish analogy you are not looking very hard. Ireland was invaded by a foreign power, Occupied for centuries, its people were murdered ,maimed , dispossessed, tortured, jailed , driven into exile, starved, called subhuman and animals by their oppressors, all exactly the same as the people of Palestine.
@Gavan Duffy: well actually Muslims drove the Christians and Jews out of the Middle East so what are you on about. The Palestinians sided with the Nazis and wanted to kill the Jews when they tried to return after the war.
@Damon16: Your sentiments regarding councils confining their concerns to council duties I support, but not your commentary on Palestine. The state of Israel, has, & is, implementing aggressive Israeli plantation of Palestinian land & properties in Jerusalem, which is forbidden by the UN.
It has also been preventing Palestinian developments, & has reneged on commitments to provide replacement homes for displaced Palestinians.
It has expanded the legally recognised boundaries of Israel militarily, & by edict, in pursuit of a policy to seize all of the lands between the sea & the Jordan river, & the Palestinians can either go to to hell or to Jordan, come what may.
If that doesn’t ring some bells in Ireland, I will be very surprised.
@Damon16: Do you recall the fact that Britain was, & still is in 6 counties, an occupying force & that is what 800 years of conflict has been about? Do you know the history of Palestine? Do you know that Israel is contravening international laws by forcibly evicting and deporting Palestinians from their own land and denying them the right to return?I think perhaps it is you that needs to learn the history of the Irish & the Palestinians.
@Paddy J: are you for real?
@Stephen Coughlan: You do know that there are Palestinian Christians, Muslims, Jews and atheists, and probably lots of other designated beliefs?
@Dette Mc Loughlin: the majority of those in Northern Ireland wish to be part of GB and consider themselves British, and NI is a part of GB therefore British forces are not an occupying force. As the demographics change in NI it is likely that the will of the majority there will change and they may choose to become part of the Republic. That would be there choice and at that point if the British chose not to vacate then they would be an occupying force.
@Damon16: Israel does not, and never has remained within its internationally recognized borders. It is an occupying power in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights. Even within the 1948 borders Israel practices Apartheid. It should be a pariah State, and just as S African Apartheid was brought down by grass roots action, nobly instigated in Ireland, so will Israeli crimes. Well done Galway Co Co.
Comhgháirdeachas a chomhairleoirí!
Total and outright victory to that most noble nation, The Palestinians!
@Micheál: Oh yeah real noble. Great place for gays, minorities, atheists and democracy. Their nation would be just so progressive and start churning out technological and scientific advancement.
@Windom Earle: Oh yeah and Israel is democratic and a religions free state !!! What laws did they bring in last year enshrine Jewish Religion over all others. All modern western Countries have removed Religion from State while Israel gets Religion and state into law.
@Gowon Geter: As presumably an independent, democratic Palestine would also do with the only difference being the particular religion concerned. I’m just guessing by the way but with Hamas involved in government I think it’s a reasonable assumption.
@Windom Earle: what are the odds that you treat ppl as subhuman, u get an extremist government.
@Micheál: . Israel is so tiny bang in the the middle east that it is no bigger than the size of Leinster surrounded by hostile counties who opposed there creation have it’s people not suffered enough down through history that they have found sanctuary there after been expelled from all the over the middle east after 1947 it was just another population transfer of people all over Europe and middle east unfortunately Arab Christian and Kurdish people never got there home land too .
@William Tallon: There is no evidence as convincing as guess work.
@Gavan Duffy: I think that’s probably meant to sound profound on your part but it really makes no sense whatsoever. Guess work is not evidence of anything it’s simply a process that allows a person to reach a conclusion on something. Bearing in mind the well documented evidence in relation to the desire of Hamas to establish Palestine as an Islamic state I think my speculation in this case was quite reasonable. You might disagree though. Just a guess on my part of course.
@Windom Earle: Scientific advancement? I think you should know that the Middle East was far more advanced in math and science than any westerners when we were still living in primitive societies. As for atheists- many Palestinians are atheist.The Israeli government however voted through a “nation state” bill confirming Israel as an exclusively Jewish state. How can that be a Democratic state if it has different laws depending on someone’s ethnicity? And yes their are Palestinian gays, and they are working on change in their society, just as Ireland has been doing & continues to do.
@William Tallon: Palestinians come in different shapes, sizes and religions you know. In desperate times people have to look towards a movement that will try to do something to change the situation for the better. The people chose Hamas to do that. People keep harping on about democracy, but then complain when they don’t like the result of a democratic process- you can’t have it both ways.But we have no idea what a Palestinian state would be like as at the minute everyday is a fight for survival.
@Bobby wilson: How can you justify the ethnically cleansing the Palestinian people off their land to accommodate others? How can you justify righting the wrong done to Jewish people by committing offences against another peoples?
@Bobby wilson: NO Bobby “found sanctuary there after been expelled from all the over the middle east ” No no ….they stole , thieved, robbed and annexed Palestinian land through the Balfour agreement …you forgot to mention that large note in History, please make sure your read, learn and post that up here on the journal.
What a worthless motion by Galway CC, Israel is a fantastic little country which could teach Ireland a lot. Has its own Silicon Valley, strong manufacturing sector, progressive social programs, freedom of religions and built on democratic values.
Palestine is only a dream, thought up my the bewildered looking for a cause. Shame on a local council in Ireland trying to big note themselves.
@Paul Galvin: look after yourself, people as stupid as you are really rare.
@Paul Galvin: a fantastic little country? Well, we obviously don’t agree on that as I’d hate to see any country admired for institutionalized racism and discrimination. Palestinians have lived in this region for hundreds of years, well before Israel was founded in 1948.And you need to look into the Israeli manufacturing sector. You mean its huge manufacture of weapons, including nukes, which it trials on Palestinians and then sells to Imperialist powers to cause death and destruction around the globe?
@Paul Galvin: Israel is a fantastic little country is it? I read fascist little country. Israel prospers on the back of colonialism and crimes against humanity, by stealing all the resources of the native population and creating millions of refugees.
@Paul Galvin: ….back to history lessons for Pauli ….tut tut tut!
That’ll put a spanner in the works
@Paul Quigley: It’s an act of solidarity.
Populist rubbish .. it’s only a singing competition..
@John Kelly: ah now singing is pushing it
@John Murray: What the Eurovision is now its a contest to keep one of the Eastern bloc Countries in the limelight through the advertising campaign which features right through the lead up and during the show .Gone are the days when a really good song had a chance of not winning but just to get a place to represent the Country on this side of the world.
@John Kelly: Would you say that about eating South African produce during the anti-apartheid campaign, ” it’s only an apple”? Boycotts can be a really forceful non-violent means of working for change.
Doubt if anyone cares what this self serving parish council thinks.
Maybe they should stick to their day job instead of trying to meddle in countries with history beyond their comprehension
@Thomas Sheridan: Well you obviously cared enough to comment! Why, there’s nothing to stop you from keeping you head buried in the sand.
Good!
@Keith O’Reilly: bad
@Joe Vlogs: indifferent
Israel not part of Europe. Should remove Israel
@Brian Flavin: Closer than feckin Australia though
Fair play to them to get the ball rolling, Eurovision is a farce nowdays anyways
Paddy Power via Louis Walsh has an even better motion launched today. It is a call to vote for the UK act to have the Brits win and host the contest next year as an affront to the Brexit pantomime.
I’m always wondering when Israel became part of Europe. I completely missed it. Was it the continents shifting? Are they a member of the Euro zone as well? Or of the EU? Okay, me done. [/sarcasm]
@Babs Ruch: The lines were drawn in the sand.
@Babs Ruch: Its nothing to do with Europe or the EU. It’s linked to membership of the European Broadcasting Union of which Israel and Tunisia for example are members
GCC have empathy. Fair play to them.
@Aileen McMahon: The Gulf Cooperation Council? Those guys have thrown the Palestinians under the bus.
We will be boycotting the Eurovision- our entry has zero chance of making it to the final.
Try sorting out the roads and traffic in Galway city instead of boycotting a show that is meant to not get involved in politics.
Wasn’t lreland allowed to sing when we were homosexuls were jailed for just being gay.
Stick to your own job
@Trevor Gardiner: It does not have to be a case of do 1 thing not another. It can & should be both. Did you understand any of what James Connolly was saying?
And, there is an International Cultural Boycott of Israel campaign which is global and growing. It is about upholding international law- or do you not care about international laws as they don’t sort out the traffic on your road?
More grandstanding BS!
@Big Knickers: valuable contribution. Thanks big nix
Well done #Galway CC.
#BoycottEurovision2019
#BDS
The Detention of Children is a Crime against Humanity
@Aoife Duignan: What will you call Hamas cancelling childrens schooling today so they can be transported to riots at the Gaza/ Israel ‘border’ later?
@Clifford Brennan: Are you talking about the Right of Return marches on Fridays? Do you not understand that marches by men, women and children have been used throughout history to publicly show what people are against or for? If you were penned into an open air prison without committing any crime and kept their without the freedom to move and many other rights curtailed, would you not want to do something to show your oppressors that you do not agree with this? As for riots along the enforced barrier, if soldiers were keeping you imprisoned, firing tear gas and aiming live ammunition at children,the disabled, the elderly and the media, would you not perhaps get a little angry?
@Dette Mc Loughlin: So you see no issue with masses of young children being brought to a place where they will be endangered by the actions of Palestinian & Israeli adults? Very strange.
Do people still watch that crap?
Israel practices Apartheid and commits other crimes against humanity and war crimes. It is in breach of more UN resolutions than all other countries put together. It should be treated as a pariah state. Galway Co Co adopted Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions last year, so boycotting the propaganda opportunities of the Eurovision is simply consistent with its existing decisions.
Israel is an Apartheid State that commits war crimes and and crimes against humanity. It is in breach of more UN resolutions than all other countries put together. Galway Co Co adopted BDS (boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel last year. The decision about the propaganda opportunities provided to Israel by Eurovision is simply consistent with that decision.
And the truth shall set you free from the lies ;) ;)
Two sides to this story .
@Mary Brennan: agree. Anyone who walks along the wall that the Israeli’s have built can see clearly 2 sides, and they are not even.
Why would anyone want to be in Israel while Hamas rockets are raining down on them, no thanks
@Jimmy Carroll:
All them landing in fields …
Imagine how #Civilians in #Gaza feel when ‘israel’ drops bombs on them constantly.
Another #Apartheid lover and #Whitewasher.
@Jimmy Carroll: the people in Gaza have no choice but to stay there as Israelis bombs rain down on them. The victim isn’t Israel, which has killed scores of thousands of innocent people and created millions of refugees.
Stick to the day job lads!!!!
Stick to day job chaps!!!
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