Why are there so few women in politics? Why is public space, whether it’s the street or social media, still so inhospitable to women? What does Carrie Fisher have to do with Mary Wollstonecraft? And why is a wedding ceremony Satan’s playground?

These are some of the questions that bestselling author and acclaimed journalist Elizabeth Renzetti examines in her new collection of original essays. Drawing upon her decades of reporting on feminist issues, Shrewed is a book about feminism’s crossroads. From Hillary Clinton’s failed campaign to the quest for equal pay, from the lessons we can learn from old ladies to the future of feminism in a turbulent world, Renzetti takes a pointed, witty look at how far we’ve come — and how far we have to go.

If Nellie McClung and Erma Bombeck had an IVF baby, this book would be the result. If they’d lived at the same time. And in the same country. And if IVF had been invented. Well, you get the point.

ELIZABETH RENZETTI is a bestselling Canadian author and journalist. She has worked for the Globe and Mail, where she served as the paper’s Arts and Books editor. In 2020 she won the Landsberg Award for her reporting on gender equality. She is the author of the essay collection Shrewed: A Wry and Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girls and the novel Based on a True Story. Her book What She Said: Conversations about Equality will be published in 2024. She lives in Toronto with her family.

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• Commended, A Chatelaine Book of the Year
• Commended, A 49th Shelf Book of the Year

Renzetti's wit and fierce intelligence are on display in full force in this essay collection . . . This is a book that will make you laugh, then move you to tears, and you're going to want to give a copy to every woman you know.

49th Shelf

Renzetti’s prose is clever, witty, and accessible, making the book fun for feminists and a good gift for anyone who questions why feminism is still necessary.

Publishers Weekly

Renzetti takes a pointed look at how far we’ve come — and how far we have left to go.

Bookseller

Artfully examines the considerable achievements of women.

Reader’s Digest

Renzetti moves effortlessly between serious systemic inequality and the equally enraging, if sometimes amusing, everyday absurdities women face, effectively capturing this cultural moment and offering a resounding call to recognize — and organize against — the pernicious sexism that still exists in the world.

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