Journalist and broadcaster Melissa Benn, popular Guardian writer and columnist Hadley Freeman, and documentary-maker turned writer Polly Morland discuss how to be female and awesome in the modern age. They consider how women should live their lives in the 21st century, what the constraints are, and whether it is still a man’s world.

Benn’s What Should We Tell Our Daughters? The Pleasures and Pressures of Growing up Female confronts the casual sexism that still meets young women growing up today, from the avalanche of unrealistically skinny models who depend on their looks for success, to inequality at home, at the office and in pay. Benn’s journalism appears in many national newspapers and magazines, and she has written and presented several Radio Four programmes.

Freeman’s latest book, Be Awesome: Modern Life for Modern Ladies, tackles subjects vital to any modern woman. Discussion ranges from ‘How to read women’s magazines without wanting to grow a penis’ to topics such as ‘Beyond the armpit: a guide to being a modern day feminist’. Freeman writes the Guardian’s Ask Hadley fashion column and contributes to US Vogue.

Morland worked for 15 years as a producer and director for the BBC and Channel Four and has just published her first book, The Society of Timid Souls: Or, How to be Brave, which has been longlisted for the 2013 Guardian First Book Award. She looks at what courage means for women today.