What makes a good female character? Because I have now done several posts on potentially good female characters undermined by various factors (in my opinion), I’ve decided to try to map out what I think makes a good, solid female character. To be honest, it’s a difficult question. There may be some characters I bring up as good examples that you will disagree about, but I will try to pinpoint the actions and characteristics that bring them to a realistic and strong level.
Original book series
She accepts or ends up accepting herself for everything that she is and isn’t.
Great example: Yoko Nakajima from The Twelve Kingdoms by Fuyumi Ono
“A young girl who is pushed beyond her limits physically, emotionally, and mentally” –Tokyopop
Yoko Nakajima is a 16-year-old honor-role student from Japan who tries to please. She tries to please her parents, her teachers, and her fellow classmates, but in the process, isn’t really honest with herself or others. But through a series of events, Yoko is taken to another world where suddenly, she is under attack by demons and confront espionage, terror, betrayal, and herself on a harrowing journey.
Yoko’s story is a brilliant mix of action and psychological adventure. She is lost in this new, strange world and travels alone for good stretches of time where she has a lot of time to think. She’s forced to confront her fears and doubts, not to mention how she behaved previously. However, instead of letting that destroy her, Yoko becomes stronger by realizing her mistakes and not letting her fear defeat her.
The other great thing about Yoko is that despite being utterly lost in this other world, she isn’t helpless. She figures a lot out on her own and, although it’s a skill bestowed upon her, Yoko fights off the demons after her by herself.
Here’s how the author of The Twelve Kingdoms series, Fuyumi Ono says she created the story and character of Yoko Nakajima:
Many of my readers end up writing to me and they often share their personal
Anime adaptation which I also recommend
problems. I was never able to write back to them, so instead, I wrote Sea of Shadow. As for the events that befall Yoko, I feel that all people end up experiencing, to a greater or lesser extent, the kinds of mental and emotional trauma that Yoko does as they grow and establish themselves in the world. – Fuyumi Ono (Interview with Tokyopop)
She can think and decide things independent of the influence of society or other people, is intelligent, and an equal.
Great example: Elizabeth Bennet from Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
“Do not consider me now as an elegant female, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.” – Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth Bennet is her own person and not afraid to show it. She’s intelligent and witty and isn’t wholly concerned with marriage. She also “demonstrates her intelligence by acknowledging that marriage does not always bring happiness.” (College Term Paper) That’s part of what makes Elizabeth Bennet different to me compared to other heroines in romance novels, but that’s not all.
BBC adaptation which I highly recommend
Whenever I pick up a romance, whether it’s just my bad luck or a trend, the heroine rambles on about how she’s not worthy to have such a fine man, etc. While there is a point when Elizabeth realizes Mr. Darcy is a better man than what she first judged, she never wallows in feelings of inferiority. Even when they were picking at each other, it was an enjoyable banter of equal wit. Also, I appreciated that the two become friends first before it turns into a romance.
As for Darcy coming to Elizabeth’s family’s rescue, it’s a period piece written at a time when women would not have the financial power to handle that issue even if they wanted to. It just wouldn’t be realistic. Furthermore, the way Darcy handles it is not with a big ego and sense of superiority, but with love and a bit of awkwardness or embarrassment.
She plays an important role in the story (whether she’s the main character or not) and is not limited to love interest.
Great example: Hermione Granger from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
“Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have.” – Hermione Granger
Hermione is a wonderful character. She’s not the main character of the series, but she holds an important spot in the story. (Can you imagine a Harry Potter without Hermione?) She is the last of the threesome to be introduced and is initially a bit conceited when it comes to her knowledge (because, let’s face it, Hermione could beat even that computer on Jeopardy). But soon she becomes one of the group and the real brains behind the operation. She’s also the only girl in the threesome, but that doesn’t make her the weak link nor just an object of awkward flirting. Sure, there is a bit of romance later, but the romance doesn’t become the essence of Hermione and consume her completely (Look! She still has friends!). 
As Kathleen Sweeny notes in her article Supernatural Girls, “Harry Potter provides a consistent storyline of cross-gendered teamwork that is not trivialized as flirtation. Harry not only encourages Hermione’s role in the acquisition of power–he depends on her.” Depend he does. There are key things that Hermione figures out and moments when Harry may have been lost without her.
She’s human.
All three of the examples above show a sense of realism that really anchors them in my mind as complete and strong. They all have aspects everyone can relate to and/or admire. None of them are superheroes in the sense that they are supremely better in every aspect than all the other characters and certainly, none of them are the weak female character that borders on ridiculous. Each has her own personality and her character is wonderful and able to stand on its own. I’d also like to point out that her strength isn’t necessarily physical or limited to physical strength.
These are what I would probably consider some of the most important factors in strong female characters and only three examples of female characters that reach this level for me. This is obviously all just my opinion so I would love to hear what you think makes a strong female character and/or who some of your favorite female characters are.
Gagging on Sexism 
Hi! Really enjoyed this post and will probably spend the next hour browsing the rest of your blog. I completely agree with all the points you’ve raised above and love both Hermione and Elizabeth Bennett. I’d like to add (though I only read it recently, to my shame) the epynomous Matilda to the list – I love that she’s bookish, bright but also brave and sly and quite willing to challenge authority
On a related note, if you haven’t already seen it then you should take a look at the Women vs Tropes series on http://www.feministfrequency.com/ – I think it’d definitely be the kind of thing you’d be interested in!
I’m glad you enjoyed it. I must admit, I haven’t read Matilda so I will put it on my list. As I’m sure you can imagine, I’m always searching for new strong female characters. As for the Women vs. Tropes series, I have just recently found it and, as you suspected, love it. Thanks for the input and I hope you continue to enjoy my blog!
Hey, I was wondering if you would consider writing about (if you were interested in and agree) Ron and Hermione’s relationship. I’ve run across some interesting posts lately that say it is unhealthy, and even say that Ron has the potential to be abusive.
http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/madampuddifoot/edit-king01.shtml
While some of thier points seemed a little far fetched to me, Ron kind of confuses me as a hero. He shows himself multiple times to be inconsiderate, jealous, and even a bully, which doesn’t seem like hero material to me, nor good boyfriend/husband material. Anyway, I think it’s interesting, and I would love to hear your opinions on it.
I hadn’t thought about it too much before, but it sounds like an interesting debate! I’d like to thoroughly go over Ron’s character and his relationship with Hermione so, it might take a little time, but yes, I would like to do a post on this. Thanks for suggesting it!
[…] “She plays an important role in the story (whether she’s the main character or not) and is not limited to love interest.” (see article here https://gaggingonsexism.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/the-big-question-what-makes-a-good-female-character/) […]
Thanks for the post. Enjoyed reading this… It helps with my character creation (for both genders actually) as I do up my work =] (Plus, Youko and her storyline is a favourite of mine =D … has the “unwilling warrior” archetype that I like. FYI to those who don’t know this archetype, its one that starts out unwilling and unskilled to a certain extent but grows and matures to be a great warrior… something like that.)
I’m glad you enjoyed the post and found it to be helpful for creating both female and male characters! I talk a lot about female characters on this blog, but I also think it’s important to create non-stereotypical male characters. As for Youko, it’s always nice to hear from a fellow fan. Unfortunately, The Twelve Kingdoms is one of those great series that I’m not sure a lot of people know about. The unwilling heroes make for great character development. 🙂
WOW! Thank you! Finally! Hollywood and the rest of Japan should totally read this as a guide to writing good and strong female characters. I am glad you’re not one of those people who thinks that only the physical aspect marks a woman strong. That is totally not true, look at Major Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell. Yes she can kick some ass, but she’s not, inconceivable character and just plain uninteresting. Then she’s obviously there for fanservice, as she wears what can only be called battle lingerie. I read this article a long time ago and I finally decided to get an account to start commenting on your awesome posts but anyways I don’t remember if you said this or not but I’ll state my opinion anyway: I agree everything with what you said about what makes a strong female character but I also want to add that a believable female is a strong female character. Firstly if she has her own quirks, her background, her big mistakes that she did or will do, her flaws (like being arrogant, clueless, stupid, deaf, having ADHD, greedy, aggressive, distrustful) her good points, her own goals or searching for a goal, character development like finding oneself or forgiving an enemy or something. That will make the female character strong but of course her skill in combat is always a bonus that I love to see. I also noticed that in most media, even when the females do fight, they never really get beaten up and even when they do they’re always made to look sexy with the mud and blood getting on their sexy legs or whatever while their clothes are ripped to show enough cleavage or ass for men to gawk over. God that is so annoying. Writers, manga artists, directors and all those people are always afraid to make the girls have a black eye or a swollen face or a limb at the wrong angle. Seriously…By the way, thank you for making this amazing blog, I am looking forward to read your future posts. 🙂
I just read over my comment and realize that it doesn’t make any sense anyway, I wasn’t coherent enough so here is a more clear version:
There are some people who told me to stop complaining about the lack of strong female characters as they said look there is Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell! But the truth is women like Major Motoko Kusanagi aren’t what I deem a strong female character. Yes she can kick some serious ass, but she’s not relatable (I forgot to add that), she’s an inconceivable character and just plain uninteresting. To put it simply she’s like a robot. And she’s obviously there for fan service, just look at what she wears…
My version of a strong female character is someone who isn’t perfect. Someone who has good personality traits and bad personality traits, has quirks, has goals, has a past, a solid background and makes mistakes. Just because a woman is super strong physically doesn’t make her a strong character. That doesn’t mean I don’t want females who can kick some ass, because those are just super awesome. I just want a female who can kick butt and be a believable character with the traits I listed above. This is the reason why I like Avatar the last airbender and Avatar the legend of korra so much. This is the reason why I want to punch the people who say avatar is sexist.
Thanks for commenting and I’m so glad to hear you’re enjoying my blog! One of the things I love about having this blog is the conversations it starts with my readers. I completely agree with you that just being physically strong doesn’t make a female character a good female character. Strength comes in many different forms after all and it doesn’t always have to be physical. I have yet to watch Ghost in a Shell, but you’re right; if a character isn’t relatable to real people, that character is just a fantasy or ideal. The unrealistic, sexy tough woman seems to be a popular fantasy right now. As you said, if a character isn’t relatable or have any quirks and imperfections, that character isn’t going to be too interesting. On the other hand, female characters like those from the Avatar series and prequel feel like realistic female characters with their own set of strengths and weaknesses, their own way of thinking and handling things. One of the great things about that series is that each character is unique and complex, no matter their sex. Their personalities, roles, and strengths/weakness aren’t tied to any gender stereotypes.