Women’s History Month not only celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political accomplishments of women. It reminds us that history is in the making, at this very moment, as the fight for intersectional gender equity continues. We must engage with the struggle to make the just society we want a reality. To that end, we offer the following list of recommended reading from our catalog for your perusal.

Activist Voices

Household Workers Unite: The Untold Story of African American Women Who Built a Movement
Premilla Nadasen

“Here at last is the story that finally positions black domestic workers at the center of mid-twentieth-century civil rights and anti-racist movement history.”
—Angela Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

Powered By Girl: A Field Guild for Supporting Youth Activists
Lyn Mikel Brown

“If you’re committed to working with girls—and I mean really working with them in every respect, through all the messy beauty of their activism—Powered by Girl is an essential read.”
—Loretta Ross, Co-founder of SisterSong

Sex Workers Unite: A History of the Movement from Stonewall to SlutWalk
Mindy Chateauvert

“This is an important book—not only for understanding the history of the movement but also for debunking myths about sex workers.”
—Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former US surgeon general

“We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now”: The Global Uprising Against Poverty Wages
Annelise Orleck

“Crafted with corazón, this book is a crisply paced, panoramic labor history of the here and now.”
—Vicki L. Ruiz, author of From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America

Women Writing Resistance: Essays on Latin America and the Caribbean
Ed. Jennifer Browdy

“May this book travel near and far and inspire others to resist.”
—Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street

Extraordinary Lives of Courageous Women

Caged Eyes: An Air Force Cadet’s Story of Rape and Resilience
Lynn Hall

“This is a spectacular book about finding one’s voice and speaking out about injustice.”
—Helen Thorpe, author ofSoldier Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and at War

In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate
Nancy Gertner

“This is a fascinating memoir of a life lived in the law with passion, guts, humor, and great skill.”
—Linda Greenhouse, author of Becoming Justice Blackmun

Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry
Imani Perry

“Looking for Lorraine reclaims for all of us the Lorraine Hansberry we should have had all along.”
—Edwidge Danticat, author of Brother, I'm Dying

The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys’ Club
Eileen Pollack

“In Eileen Pollack’s vivid description of the issues facing women in science, I immediately saw the truth of what I have lived.”
—Carol Greider, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Upstairs Wife: An Intimate History of Pakistan
Rafia Zakaria

“The Upstairs Wife is a revelation.”
—Katha Pollitt, poet, essayist, and columnist for The Nation

Calling Out the Need for Change

Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War from El Salvador to Oklahoma
Michelle Oberman

“Oberman gives a penetrating analysis of both the power and limitations of laws governing abortion.”
—Carole Joffe, author of Dispatches from the Abortion Wars

Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story
Angela Saini

“This is an important book that I hope will be widely read.”
—Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, author of The Woman That Never Evolved

Invisible: How Young Women with Serious Health Issues Navigate Work, Relationships, and the Pressure to Seem Just Fine
Michele Lent Hirsch

“Thank you, Michele, for freeing us from the burden of being fine and shining a light on all the hidden pain women have been working so hard to conceal.”
—Nora McInerny, podcast host for Terrible, Thanks for Asking

The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, Surveillance, and Decades-Long Government Plan to Imprison “Promiscuous” Women
Scott W. Stern

“In our own era, when harassment is a great national topic, this book could not be more timely.”
—Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia

Trust Women: A Progressive Christian Argument for Reproductive Justice
Rebecca Todd Peters

“An important book for physicians, clergy, legislators, justice advocates, and those who seek to understand critical debates about life!”
—Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

“You’re in the Wrong Bathroom” And 20 Other Myths and Misconceptions About Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People
Laura Erickson-Schroth and Laura A. Jacobs

“Everyone from therapists and teachers to parents and young people will find the book invaluable.”
—Carol Bernstein, former president of the American Psychiatric Association