J'AIME APRIL 2019

F E AT U R E
Challenging gender inequality
BIRMINGHAM ENTREPRENEUR SHAHERAZAD UMBREEN IS MAKING STRIDES IN THE GENDER
EQUALITY STRUGGLE WITH THE LAUNCH OF HER NEW BOOK ON WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
Shoe designer and entrepreneur Shaherazad
Umbreen has launched her debut book in time for
International Women’s Day last month, exploring the
gender gap and looking at how women can empower
themselves and each other.
Each Other: Why Women Must Empower Women
is designed to be read by women everywhere in
accessible, easily digestible chapters with a clear
toolkit of empowering actions included.
The book, which is available on Amazon and
shaherazad.com, features insights from feminists such
as Helen Pankhurst and Deborah Rodriguez, as well
as explorations of inequality quandaries such as the
gender pay gap, why girls suffer from hunger more
than boys, and even Iceland’s very strange penis
museum.
Shaherazad, who won the prestigious Winston
Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship in 2018, said
she originally came up with the idea for the research
when she set up her empowering shoe business,
Shoes by Shaherazad, three years ago.
“My shoes are designed to carry women in comfort
from the boardroom to the bar and my book is
designed to give women clear calls to action to end
the gender inequality conundrum,” she explains.
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship
funded Shaherazad’s travels across the UK,
Germany, Iceland and Kuwait to explore what
women can do to finally end inequality. Her book
asserts that men have been the privileged sex for far
too long and that it is time for women to do more to
empower each other.
“There is not a single country in the world where
women have full equality with men. It’s time that
women take control and make gender equality our
reality,” said Shaherazad. “In the book I explore a
world where belonging on any part of the gender
spectrum does not limit or enhance your life chances.
“Iceland is the number one country in the world for
gender equality but even there women are paid 14%
less than men. My book and the toolkit within it
calls for women to take action to end male privilege.
For example, increasing paternity leave sounds
counterintuitive to the struggle but will actually help
to enable gender equality. The book reveals what
would happen to population growth if men could
SHOE DESIGNER AND
AUTHOR SHAHERAZAD
UMBREEN
give birth; it challenges what men’s appetite for sex
would be if there was a chance that they would have
to bear the pain of pregnancy and childbirth.”
The content is designed to appeal to women who
believe in equality but don’t know where to start
in supporting change. It explores how to deal with
sexist language in meetings - such as when people
say, ‘tits up’ or ‘man up’ - how to deal with sexual
misdemeanours; how to enable women to gain senior
leadership positions and how to support the feminist
agenda by ensuring that male partners play their
fair share in the domestic sphere. It is her straight
talking pragmatism and clear actions that are seeing
Shaherazad get the thumbs up from readers.
One pre-launch reader said: “I experienced many
emotions whilst reading this book. It is incredibly
thought-provoking as I found myself recalling the
advice when I was going about my everyday life - I
had never seen women’s subjugation in this way
before. I’m done with being seen and treated as the
poorer sex.”
Whatever your thoughts are on feminism, this
entertaining and factual narrative is guaranteed to
make you think again.
More information on Shaherazad and her book
Each Other: Why Women Must Empower Women is
available online at www.shaherazad.com
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