Herlands : Lessons From Societies Where Women Make the Rules

Publisher: Penguin Random House
Publish date: 3 March 2026
Pages: 368
Language: English

Subjects: History, Social History, Women, Literary Collections, Essays, Social Science, Anthropology, Cultural & Social, Feminism & Feminist Theory, Sociology, Women's Studies

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.