‘Little Women’ and author Alcott resonate 150 years later
CONCORD, Mass. — A century and a half before the #MeToo movement gave women a bold, new collective voice, Louisa May Alcott was lending them her own.
Society had far different expectations of women in 1867, when publisher Thomas Niles asked Alcott to write a “girls’ story.” At a time when women were expected to marry, often did not hold employment and could not vote, Alcott had her doubts about the success of “Little Women.”
Since then, the coming-of-age book has been translated into more than 50 languages and made into films, a musical and a recently aired PBS “Masterpiece” miniseries. The novel constantly finds new audiences as women worldwide confront sexual misconduct, misogyny and pay inequity.
Mayela Boeder, 34, of Appleton, Wisconsin, read “Little Women” as a girl and thinks it’s still relevant.