Herlands

A landmark exploration of women-led communities worldwide and what they can teach us about new ways to live, think and govern, from BBC global correspondent Megha Mohan.

Society isn’t working for women – or any of us.

But what if the rules were different?

Imagine a world in which women have all the power. A world in which they work together to shape their rules, their societies and their futures.

In reality, all-women communities have always existed, and continue to thrive all over the world. In this vital and ground-breaking book, Megha Mohan goes in search of their roots, discovering a vibrant global history, brought together here for the first time. She also takes us into today’s women-led spaces, where women live on their own terms, showing us how we can rethink society for new ways of living, working and collaborating, often with less of a profit-driven mindset and a deeper connection to ancestry and nature.

Through extensive research and exclusive first-hand reporting, and inspired by her great-grandmother’s own matrilineal community in South India, Mohan introduces us to fascinating and diverse groups of women. From the controversial feminist online trolls of South Korea, to elder women co-housing in Paris and North London, and the Rain Queens of South Africa, this is a truly global look at women’s community.

Essential reading for anyone interested in our collective histories, cultures, economics and governance, Herlands shows the power and possibility of new ways of living – and leading – for us all.

Author Biography

Megha Mohan is the BBC’s first global gender and identity correspondent. She covers issues concerning women’s rights, LGBT communities, race and ethnicity, for the BBC’s 43 language services worldwide. She has reported on the black market for abortion pills in Honduras, femicide in Russia, and gender roles in North Korea’s army – a story that ranked among Chartbeat’s 100 most-read articles in the world.

In 2023, she presented a special two-part documentary on the devasting effects of child marriage in Malawi for the BBC World Service with Michelle Obama, Amal Clooney and Melinda French Gates. Mohan was named in Progress 1000’s list of most influential storytellers, and she consulted on Level Up’s media guidelines on how to sensitively report on domestic violence. She is also the co-founder of Second Source, a network of women journalists from under-represented backgrounds.