Lately, I have been fascinated and curious about women writers and how they differ so vastly from men. As a songwriter, avid reader, and lover of the written word, I recognized that most of the novels that I read or writers that I work with are female. Surely I love the idea of supporting the evolution of women, but my choosing female authors or female writing partners was an unconscious choice. Or was it?

I have realized that women write from an understanding that words, as much as actions, have consequences. Words carry enormous weight and value, leaving impressions that linger. Historically, women have had a complex relationship to language, largely because they have been silenced or regulated from acting on their truth for so long. As a result, they have used the art of language to deal with and influence the world because it’s really all the power they had.

It is a rare woman who has not heard, at some point in her life, that what upsets her, worries her, bothers her, is petty in comparison to the struggles of a man. A career and having a husband and family was an either-or agreement. Women’s books, plays, songs, and art, were deemed less important because they were created around birth, death, friendship, and sex, basically validating the female experience, instead of male-centered issues. However, when I think of what makes human beings, regardless of gender, feel most alive, it is around the very things women write about.

Learning about the history of fellow women, and well, being an ever-evolving one myself, I realized why my pull towards women artists in their many art forms was so strong. I am not minimizing male artists in the least, but the difference is clear. Women understand human complexity far better because we have had no choice but to understand it and compromise with it throughout time.

Most of my women friends are multi-hyphenates. They continue to find deep interest in their evolution. I have so many friends whose kids are now young adults that have created brand new careers and interests for themselves while not giving up the never-ending job of being a Mother. Women are incredible survivors, continuously making the world more relatable, softer, more accepting, and incredibly vibrant. I guess there is my answer about my pull towards women artists. They give me hope and a deep belief in myself.