What Makes Wome Strong

A lot of people go on record demanding ‘strong women’ for new stories, but that’s not necessarily what we get, because quite some people also misunderstand what ‘strong’ means in this case. It’s not about making badass female heroes who kick ass and take names (although we surely can do with those as well). It’s about making female characters with a strong agenda and allowing them to follow it.

The misunderstanding of the term ‘strong women’ leads to a lot of token strong women. Women who are introduced as badass warriors with amazing skills, but seem to misplace all of their training, weapons, and experience as soon as the hero turns up, becoming damsels without any agenda who are only defined by the hero and the villain and their actions. Those are not strong women, no matter how many different weapons they can wield at the beginning.

On the other side, a woman doesn’t need to be physically strong to count as a ‘strong woman.’ Depending on the setting and her background, she can just as well be a petite lady who has never wielded anything heavier than a fan. If her agenda is strong and she follows it with all she has at her disposal, then she still is a ‘strong woman.’

What does that mean for you as a writer? Well, first of all, you need to keep a close eye on your characters and make sure every major character has an agenda of their own. Only the hero really does have to reach their goals, but other characters should have more motivation than just helping the hero (or hindering them) as well. There will, of course, be minor characters whose only job it is to sell your hero some provisions or tell them the quickest way to their next destination. Those don’t need an agenda, but everyone who really is someone in your story needs one. That goes for the love interest, for the best friend, for the villain, for the villain’s right hand, and everyone else whose actions have a major impact on the story. The women you have in your story, no matter their roles, should definitely have an agenda, too, and follow it as much as possible.

Strangely enough, a good example for that is the movie “The Assassins’ Bureau,” despite its age. Its female lead, journalist-in-the-making Sonia, does have a clear agenda and follows that as far as it leads her, changing her agenda when the situation, and not only the male lead, demands it. She wants to become a journalist and sees a story about the mysterious Assassins’ Bureau, where you can order a murder just as easily as you would order another service, as a good one. And let’s be honest - if that story ever got written, it would definitely pave the way for her as the first female journalist working for any London newspaper. She changes her plans only when it becomes apparent that both she and the head of the Bureau have been used by her possible future boss (who happens to be on the Bureau’s board himself) and saving the peace becomes more important than just writing the story. Sonia (played wonderfully by Diana Rigg, one of my favourite actresses of all time) proves resourceful, within the limits placed on her by her gender and upbringing, and very tenacious, which would certainly make her a good journalist. She does not have any fighting experience (unlike her former character of Ms. Emma Peele in “The Avengers”) and is not presented as physically imposing or physically strong. But she’s not reduced to the love interest of the movie’s male lead either. They meet, they sass, she follows him like a shadow, because he’s her actual story, and they save the peace together in the end (although she arrives a bit late).

So if you want to write a ‘strong woman’ for your story, remember that it’s not about physical strength. Of course, if you want to write about a female warrior, there’s no reason not to, but the prowess with a sword is not what makes her a ‘strong woman’ in the context of the story. Her strong agenda will make her a strong woman. She will remain independent from the male lead after they meet and still aim to reach her own goals. She will go along with him if the situation demands it or if it furthers her own plans, but not just because the hero of the story has just arrived and she will now drop everything (including her skills and experience) to follow him to the end of the world.

Which reminds me of the often overlooked fairy tale about the Salt Prince. In it, the princess is a ‘strong woman,’ too, because she doesn’t spend all her time sitting in a tower and waiting for her prince. After learning he’s been turned to stone by his father for being with her, she leaves her home (well, she’s cast out, but she doesn’t care about that after learning what happened to the prince) and wanders the earth in search of a way underground, so she can go to his father’s kingdom and beg for him to be released. She goes through a lot of trouble and a lot of dangers, which she masters with empathy, kindness, and perseverance. She is not a warrior, but she is a perfect fairy tale princess who actually does something for her ‘happily ever after’ unlike Snow White or Sleeping Beauty (and much more than Cinderella, too). Yes, she’s not going to confront the Salt Prince’s father - but how do you confront a guy who can turn people to stone, if you’re merely human? But she is going all the way to do her best to convince him - and she succeeds. And then she returns to her father’s kingdom and saves him as well, so she’s really good at saving people overall, despite not knowing which end of a sword to grab.

If you want to write a strong woman, write a really strong woman. A woman with a goal and enough perseverance to reach it. A woman who won’t give up her own agenda just for the guy who happens to be the hero of the story. Make her a warrior, if you want to. But also keep in mind that it’s not a necessity.