YOUNG GLOBAL CHANGEMAKERS FOR A FEMINIST FUTURE

Personal coach Kimball presents the concerns of young feminist activists around the world in their own words.

As the holder of a doctorate in religious studies and the author of more than a dozen sociological and self-help texts, Kimball set out to interview young activists around the globe, ages 13 to 30, to discover the issues they face and their activism in response. Readers hear from women and girls in the United States, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Hungary, China, India, Turkey, Uruguay, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, and Canada, and the feminism-related topics include Black feminism, body image, gender identity, safety, reproductive rights, and corporate issues, among others. The beginning of the book reviews the feminist movement over multiple decades for more than 100 pages, including analyses of women’s leadership styles; first-, second-, third- and fourth-wave feminist concerns; women’s studies programs; intersectionality; and tactics for change, including modes of protest. This section is heavily footnoted in the manner of an academic paper before Kimball gets to the substance of the book—the interviews with young feminists. The situations and experiences of the subjects are often fascinating, and they vary widely. For instance, Nurzhan Estebesova in Kyrgyzstan, who was born in 1996, points out that women’s concerns in her country differ from those of Western women; for girls in this majority-Muslim country, education is key, she says, and the internet looms large as it offers access to new ideas to be identified and discussed. However, the book’s formatting can be confusing at times. The author’s questions are mixed in with the responses, and although the author’s comments are in italics and the interviewees’ in regular type, readers will frequently wonder who’s talking at a given moment; frequently, Kimball will merely comment, rather than asking a question (“You’ve done volunteer work in other countries”), which complicates a more traditional Q&A flow. Topics jump around chaotically, as well, making some interviews hard to follow, and Kimball’s habit of discussing the interviewees’ astrological signs may also dilute the book’s intended impact for readers without an interest in astrology.

Thought-provoking interviews with young global activists hampered by uneven organization.