Our Monday gender issues focus
Combine 1 great read, 2 crucial issues and 3 memorable women (2 who really existed) and you get The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. Through a lens that focuses on slavery and women’s rights, The Invention of Wings is about female empowerment. I thought the book was excellent.
Historically, The Invention of Wings conveys the story of the Grimké sisters. Born to life on a South Carolina plantation, we first see them opposing slavery at home. When, at 11 years old, Sarah Grimké was given a slave, Hetty, she tries to refuse and violates the law by secretly teaching her to read. Then, hoping at first to become an attorney and later a minister, Sarah has to steer her life in a different direction. In the book, as Sarah’s story unfolds, so too does Hetty’s fictitious–but very real–life.
Our bottom line: Through gender issues and the abolitionist movement, The Invention of Wings masterfully conveys how women’s human capital was underutilized for centuries in the United States.
If you have read The Invention of Wings, I hope you will share your thoughts about the book in a comment.
Gender Issues: The Invention of Wings
Elaine Schwartz
Elaine Schwartz has spent her career sharing the interesting side of economics. At the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she has been honored through an Endowed Chair in Economics and the History Department chairmanship. At the same time, she developed curricula and wrote several books including Understanding Our Economy (originally published by Addison Wesley as Economics Our American Economy) and Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). Elaine has also written in the Encyclopedia of New Jersey (Rutgers University Press) and was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom.” Beyond the classroom, she has presented Econ 101 ½ talks and led workshops for the Foundation for Teaching Economics, the National Council on Economic Education and for the Concord Coalition.
