The Best Country Songs for Female Empowerment

Country music has some of the strongest women in the music industry, and the music they create exemplifies that strength. There are countless songs that can bring a feeling of empowerment, and the ones named in this article are only a few.

1. “Redesigning Women” by The Highwomen

The Highwomen is one of the best supergroups in the country genre, and despite the fact that they only released one album, that album is practically perfection. “Redesigning Women," titled after the old TV show Designing Women, was the band’s first release. It talks about all the things that women do in the world and how much they juggle. The song lyrics that start the song— "Old time living on a half time schedule / Always tryin’ to make everybody feel special”—truly encapsulate the experience of being a woman, and it’s a great way to welcome the song's topic, and also the group. Songs like “If She Ever Leaves Me” and “Crowded Table” were close seconds when picking the tracks on this list.

2. “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” by Shania Twain

This song is on the list because of the positive tone surrounding being a woman and defying societal standards for needing to act a certain way. It also feels like one of the OG empowerment songs. Lines like, “Go totally crazy / Gorget I’m a lady” and “I wanna be free yeah / To feel the way I feel” show Twain’s desire to let loose and be who she is without the expectations placed upon women.

3. “Follow Your Arrow” by Kacey Musgraves

Kacey Musgraves had a few songs that could have made the cut, but “Follow Your Arrow” feels like the positive empowerment anthem that the women of this world need. It encourages all listeners to be themselves no matter what people expect of them. Specifically, Musgraves writes about the lack of middle ground women have and that there is no right choice without making someone angry, so make the choice that best fits what you want. She writes, “If you won't have a drink / Then you're a prude / But they'll call you a drunk / As soon as you down the first one," which exemplifies the duality women face. Though the verses are negative examples, the chorus is a great call to action. “Good Ol’ Boys Club” was a very close second for making it onto this list.

4. “Not Ready to Make Nice” by The Chicks

The Chicks is one of the amazing trios in Country Music that consistently makes hit after hit. “Not Ready to Make Nice” was on the album Taking the Long Way, which was their first album after getting canceled and their last album until the release of their 2020 album, Gaslighter. “Not Ready to Make Nice” was their response to the people who canceled them and deeply impacted their careers. Instead of apologizing and taking the high road like most people expect women too, they felt their emotions and stayed angry like they had every right to. This song is also the perfect song to scream along with, and every empowerment list needs at least one of those.

5. “Just Because I’m a Woman” by Dolly Parton

As this is a list of country female empowerment anthems, it would not be complete without Dolly Parton. This was the hardest one to choose from because she has written so many songs to uplift women and herself. “Just Because I’m a Woman” talks about how, just like everyone, Parton’s allowed to make mistakes, and she shouldn’t be punished for them because she’s a woman. On a broader point, she’s saying that women shouldn’t be held to a higher standard just because they’re women because, more importantly, they're human.

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