Women-Led Stories By Women From Across Different Media

Celebrate women with some of the greatest stories ever told across different media—both led and created by women.

Text Written by Samwel Rasheed Tan
March 8, 2023

Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” (Image Credit: NEON).

The 8th of March approaches us time and again to celebrate International Women's Day. While it’s silly and impossible to boil down all contributions of women to society in a single day, it's a thoughtful reminder of all of the progress they have made to gain equal rights throughout history. 

With that, it's as good a time as any for story recommendations for your lists. The following are five stories of great acclaim with women as leads created by women. From a thrilling dark fantasy to a sitcom, and multiple period pieces, these stories are all spread across different mediums so you can choose one depending on your preference. 

Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (TV)

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator, head writer, and star of the hit series “Fleabag”. (Image Credit: Steve Schofield/Amazon).

There are not that many multifaceted creatives in the world, let alone multifaceted creatives that excel at the highest level. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is one such case in Fleabag as its creator, head writer, and star. The show tells the story of an adult woman coming to terms with a personal tragedy as she navigates her life through London. 

Full of wit, heart, and undeniable charisma, what Waller-Bridge does with Fleabag is manage to balance being an incredibly funny yet heartbreaking watch, embedding its characterization and nuanced reflections with comedic elements and awkward situations. All are nothing short of amazing. It's a gut-punch comedy like no other that will have you laughing whilst with an aftertaste of melancholy.

A Bride’s Tale by Kaoru Mori (Manga)

Volume 6 cover of Kaoru Mori’s period piece slice-of-life drama “A Bride’s Tale” (Art by Kaoru Mori. Image Credit: Kadokawa).

Continuing the thread of multifaceted creatives, one of Japan's most talented mangaka is Kaoru Mori. She creates the most detailed designs in every panel, and crafts grand yet intimate stories backed with accurate research and planning. This is all present in her magnum opus, Otoyomegatari or better known by its English title A Bride’s Tale. 

A Bride’s Tale is a story about different brides in various parts of 19th-century Central Asia (now Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan) and their unique circumstances. It's a historical fiction that utilizes its “historical” nature up to the last detail. 

A touching series that displays traditional feminine values and characteristics, and portrays them as strong and uplifting in an era and setting where they weren’t presented as such. 

Monstress by Marjorie Liu (Comic)

Issue 18 cover of Marjorie Liu’s dark fantasy “Monstress”. (Art by Sana Takeda. Image Credit: Image Comics).

If action is more of your thing then Majorie Lui’s epic dark fantasy might be for you. Monstress is set in a fictional 20th-century steampunk Asia and tells the story of Maika Hailfwolf and her ventures in uncovering her origins. 

Winner of five Eisner awards—one of the highest marks of recognition for Western comics. Monstress is as ambitious as it is grand, filled with dynamic political intrigue, epic myths, and Lui’s formidable imagination. While not for the faint of heart, it remains as an enthralling story that will satisfy the taste buds of every fantasy fan. 

Emma by Jane Austen (Novel)

An illustration of Jane Austen’s “Emma” (Credit: British Library).

You can also never go wrong in celebrating International Women’s Day with a Jane Austen novel at your side. With Emma, you follow the love-filled misadventures around the titular character—Emma, along with her opinions about them and 19th-century British society in general. 

Emma sees Austen writing her most unique and compelling protagonist, whilst not compromising her signature prose that has made so many of her novels feel amazing to read. Sure, Emma Woodhouse may be loud, privileged, and lacking in self-awareness, but it is these “flaws” that allow the character and the novel to feel authentic and layered. And it is these characteristics that enable the novel to stand out amongst Austen’s other entries and most stories in general. 

Portrait of a Lady On Fire by Celine Sciamma (Film)

Adéle Haenel and Noémie Merlant play star-crossed lovers Héloïse and Marianne in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” (Image Credit: NEON).

Céline Sciamma's 2019 picture is the perfect film to accompany a day called International Women's Day. Portrait of a Lady on Fire is about the exquisite star-crossed love story of Marianne and Héloïse, it details how they fall in love, and how they love and choose to honor their love. 

Intelligent and mesmerizing in its approach, the film uses the power of the gaze with its camera work to display desire, fear, agency, and heartbreak. What Sciamma has done is craft a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice into a sensual masterpiece with women at its center to be remembered for years to come. 

Oda Sa Wala by Dwein Baltazar (Film)

Marietta Subong, also known as Pokwang, as the lonesome Sonya in Oda Sa Wala (Image Credit: CNN Philippines/QCinema).

If something homegrown is more of your alley then you might like Dwein Baltazar's Oda Sa Wala. It's a tale about the struggling life of a female embalmer named Sonya, and how all that is shaken once she decides to take in a mysterious corpse as it seems to turn her life around. 

With Baltazar's choice of simplistic framing and gray-filled colors, partnered with an extraordinary performance by Pokwang, they both bring forth a film that is bleak yet so sublime. Mellowing in its quietness while bringing a sadness that's almost deafening. 

Ode sa Wala is a watch that explores what is living, palpitating with depression, and loneliness that will leave you melancholic for days.