The Essential Women's History Month Reading List
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Carmel Snow, the legendary fashion editor who helmed Harper’s Bazaar from 1934 to 1958, once famously remarked that this publication is a hub for “well-dressed women with well-dressed minds.” Her words ring even truer today as readers face a literary scene inundated with countless spectacular works of fiction, theory, and criticism all about feminism.
Here, we rounded up a list of thought-provoking books that cover everything from reproductive justice and economic equity to domestic labor and sex work. Whether you're looking to brush up on the early days of the movement, be inspired by modern-day feminist heroes, or witness how far we've come (and how far we still have to go), these are the perfect books to pick up for Women's History Month—and every other time of year.
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
Today’s cadre of politically palatable feminists are coming up short on issues that should require their urgency, as Kendall so clear-sightedly points out in her bestselling book. Through a series of essays that touch on everything from reproductive rights to pop culture, the activist and thinker searingly critiques mainstream feminism’s tendency to cater to a specific type of privileged woman while also neglecting the material needs of others—especially as they pertain to income, housing, violence, education, and healthcare. In attempting to answer who, exactly, this movement serves, Kendall calls on readers to reconsider their priorities according to a genuinely inclusive and compassionate worldview.
Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano
Since its publication in 2007, Serano’s masterful Whipping Girl has laid the foundation for so many thinkers and scholars attempting to understand the disproportionate scale of violence waged against transgender women. In this manifesto, she connects the dots between the epidemic of misogyny and transphobia, as well as debunks prevailing mainstream myths about what it means to exist as a transgender person in Western society.
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis
The famed political activist, thinker, and writer has long been known for her insights in regards to gender, race, and class. But, in this sweeping collection of essays, Davis builds a handbook for the modern intersectional feminist by drawing connections between Black feminism and liberation struggles of the past and present, unearthing lessons from the prison abolition and anti-apartheid movements across the globe. Through her writing, it’s clear that the only way to march forward is to truly understand, internalize, and build upon the work undertaken by those who came before us.
Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change by Angela Garbes
What does it take to raise a child? In Essential Labor, Garbes interrogates the expectations and assumptions that come with motherhood, revealing the ways in which American society depends on yet so often overlooks the integral contributions of mothers and domestic caretakers. Combining memoir with cultural analysis, the first-generation Filipino-American writer develops a new way of looking at domestic work in a hyper-capitalistic civilization.
Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights by Molly Smith and Juno Mac
Much has been said about the state of sex work and what to do about it, but the voices of actual sex workers often get lost in the shuffle. In Revolting Prostitutes, Molly Smith and Juno Mac—both sex workers themselves—are bringing their perspectives to the forefront of the conversation. By looking at different legal models and identifying the ways that migration, race, and feminism come into play with their industry, the duo make a compelling case for full decriminalization, arguing that prohibitive laws harm sex workers more than they empower them.
A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery and Resistance by Stella Dadzie
In this enlightening work of nonfiction, British-Ghanaian activist and historian Dadzie unearths the forgotten histories of enslaved women who played a key role in resisting and fighting back against slavery in the West Indies. In addition to chronicling the devastating conditions of life on a plantation and the cruel conduct of slave captors, Dadzie also brings to light the small but critical gestures of defiance activated by enslaved women, re-centering them as agents of their own destiny in the historically white-washed movement for abolition.
My Body by Emily Ratajkowski
In this collection of essays, Ratajkowski uses her career as one of the most sought-after models today as a framework to contend with the ways in which women’s bodies are commodified. Armed with a lifetime of exploitative experiences dealing with skeevy agents and abusive photographers, Ratajkowski taps into the emotional whiplash of being a woman—on the one hand, desired and lusted after and, on the other, viewed as a contemptuous inferior.
Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto by Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya and Nancy Fraser
This trio of authors, who helped organize the International Women’s Strike in the U.S., attempt to reorient the priorities of mainstream liberal feminists in this powerful manifesto. By invoking different international movements focused on ending economic, environmental, and racial injustices, they call upon readers to image a more revolutionary version of feminism that serves more than the women who already sit at the top of the global world order.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
First published in 1792, proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft took inspiration from the revolutionaries of her time who demanded greater rights for mankind, to advocate for an even more socially maligned group: women. Independent, educated, and intellectually esteemed, Wollstonecraft has been called one of the mothers of feminist theory, posing the idea of women as the natural and intellectual equals of men, and deserving of equal treatment and opportunities nearly a hundred years before the term feminist even existed.
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Published in 1929, Virginia Woolf’s essay took on the established literary criticism of the time, which claimed women were inherently lesser writers and creators by virtue of their gender. Instead, Woolf pointed to the vast, systemic education and economic failures that stifled women writers of the time. As one of the foundational pieces of feminist literary critique, you might expect that Woolf’s words lost their potency over the years, but her clever, incisive perspective remains just as inspiring today as it was when it was published.
Feminism Is for Everybody by bell hooks
Suffice it to say that feminist theory can be a bit dense for some. That’s why beloved feminist author and cultural critic bell hooks set out in 2000 to create an educational text for those whose understanding of feminism comes from passing TV references and outdated ideas about “feminazis.” A passionate treatise for the lay-feminist, hooks’s read explains and examines inclusive feminism and the practical application of it in a way that is both entertaining and informative.
Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein
Though nonbinary may be a relatively new term to mainstream readers, nonbinary people and writers have been discussing the complexities of gender fluidity for decades. Originally published in 1994 and recently revised and updated, self-described “nonbinary transfeminine diesel femme dyke” Kate Bornstein explores the layers of cultural, political, and social factors that inform and shape gender performance, calling out the rigid expectations of a gender binary as harmful to people of all presentations.
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
In the age of “problematic faves,” cultural critic Roxane Gay embraces and advocates for the idea of imperfect feminism in her collection of funny, honest essays. Pointing out the irony of holding our icons up to impossible-to-meet standards of thought and behavior, Gay takes on trigger warnings, the complications of loving catchy songs despite their degrading lyrics, and the ways in which tokenism in media negatively impacts women and people of color.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Though feminism may not have been on her mind when she wrote the story of the intrepid March sisters in the 1860s, Louisa May Alcott has influenced numerous generations of bold, loving, and unconventional women. Following Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy as they grow, find love, pursue their art, and endure loss, Little Women shows the many ways to be a woman and has earned a place in the hearts of feminists of all stripes.
Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
Best known for popularizing the term mansplaining, Rebecca Solnit wrote a collection of personal yet decidedly un-saccharine essays that delve into big themes of the modern feminist experience with clarity and humor. From having your own interests explained to you to the #YesAllWomen movement to marriage equality, Solnit’s pieces are a relatable—often secondhand rage-inducing—look into gender in the 2010s.
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
As one of America’s most recognizable trans activists, Janet Mock has made a name for herself by breaking ground for underrepresented women. Her autobiography, following her growth as a multiracial trans woman from a poor background to one of the country’s most respected advocates, offers a brave and moving look into the search for self and the manifold ways in which one experiences womanhood.
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Intersectional feminism has raised its profile in recent years, with a more diverse range of voices participating in the conversation than ever before. Much of that is owed to work by writers like famed poet and author Audre Lorde, who brought a Black, queer, feminist perspective to the forefront of the cultural discussion in this iconic collection of essays and speeches on racism, sexism, and homophobia.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The semi-autobiographical story of one woman’s descent into mental illness in the 1950s, The Bell Jar has become a quintessential coming-of-age story for young feminists. Moody and sometimes terse, the prose beautifully encapsulates a moment in the female experience—the desire, disillusionment, and fear of being young, confused, and stifled by the role that society has prescribed.
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
If you've ever enjoyed a feminist retelling of a classic fairy tale, you owe a debt to Angela Carter, whose 1979 collection of short stories birthed a subgenre all its own. The tales—which include murderous Little Red Riding Hoods, vampiric Sleeping Beauties, a Beauty who becomes the Beast and the wife of Bluebeard turning the tables—remain some of the rawest and most clever examples of the style, and everlasting proof of Carter’s talent.
This Bridge Called My Back by Multiple Writers
This anthology series features personal essays, criticism, poetry, and even visual art made by more than a dozen feminist women of color. It explores the ways their intersecting identities—gender, race, sexuality, class—shape the ways in which they relate to the world and the way the world, in turn, relates to them. Though originally published in the ’80s, the issues they present, and the perspectives they stand for, remain as pertinent to today’s feminist landscape as they were more than 30 years ago.
The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
Dynamic and divisive, Germaine Greer’s landmark book has been making waves since it first hit shelves in 1970. Perhaps best known for its assertion that women should consider tasting their own menstrual blood, Greer’s impassioned, unflinching text became one of the early voices in the moment to call out the traditional nuclear family as a tool of female oppression and pose sexual liberation as essential to women’s lib.
The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler
Though it may not be a traditional book, Eve Ensler’s episodic play has become a major feminist touchpoint in the more than 20 years since it was first performed. With sections dedicated to sexual consent, body image, sex work, reproduction, and more, Ensler’s work was designed to give a voice to women of many races, identities, and experiences.
In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens by Alice Walker
Spanning more than 20 years of Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker’s expansive career, this collection of essays, speeches, and reviews focuses on both the personal and political. From her accounts of the civil rights movement to anti-nuclear sentiment, examinations of other writers, and her personal reflections as a Black woman, mother, and feminist—matters which she refers to as “womanist prose”—the book serves as a window into a remarkable woman’s mind and a provocative perspective on feminism in the late 20th century.
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
The quintessential text of second-wave feminism, Betty Friedan’s 1963 book is one of the original pieces of feminist theory to become a mainstream hit. Its indictments of the “MRS. Degree” mentality of higher education for women, the substandard treatment of mental illness among female patients, and the cultural perception of women as cogs of consumerism, not creation, have shaped the dialogue of feminist discourse for more than half a century.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Now an Emmy-winning television series, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale is a gold standard of feminist speculative fiction. The story follows Offred, a member of the fertile female servant class that is forced to survive in a dystopic near-future by serving as reproductive vessels for the ruling class. In a time when women’s reproductive rights remain politically contentious, Atwood’s seminal novel remains as pertinent now as it did when it hit shelves more than 30 years ago.
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Author and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir’s 1949 book began as an autobiographical essay exploring why she thought of herself as a woman first and everything else second. It reclaimed “the problem of woman,” which, as she put it, “has always been the problem of men.” Sharp-witted and winding, de Beauvoir combines critical theory with personal observation for a formative work of the feminist canon.
Women, Culture & Politics by Angela Y. Davis
Veteran political activist Angela Y. Davis’s essential collection of speeches and essays revolves largely around the ways in which the conversations about sexism, racism, and economic equality shifted in the latter part of the 20th century. From stories of female genital mutilation in Egypt to examinations of rap lyrics and the personal politics of race, Davis’s biting, brilliant prose solidifies her place among the important feminist voices of our era.
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature, Doris Lessing is most known for her 1962 experimental novel, in which she spoke of what was, at the time, unspeakable: women as creatures with sexual desire, with mental illness, who struggle, and climax, and, yes, menstruate. Through the lens of Anna, a writer attempting to consolidate notebooks of her life experience and creative work into a cohesive whole, Lessing explores the un-pretty side of feminine life with love, anger, and a rawness that was nigh-unheard of for a female author of her era.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Though Zora Neale Hurston’s best-known novel is now considered a touchstone work of the Harlem Renaissance, Their Eyes Were Watching God was first published to a chilly reception in 1937 before later being rediscovered in the 1970s. The story follows a Black woman named Janie Crawford as she comes of age in Florida, progressing from her “voiceless” teenage years into a far more self-possessed adulthood.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
First published in 2007 and translated into English in 2015, Han Kang’s modern-day fable explores what happens when a housewife rejects the role expected of her. When Yeong-hye—a homemaker and graphic artist living in Seoul—wakes up after a violent nightmare about animal cruelty, she promptly decides to become a vegetarian. This seemingly innocuous decision leads to Yeong-hye’s ostracism from her family, as well as her own mental and physical decline.
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson
Contemporary memoir-meets-theory queen Maggie Nelson turns her lens to topics of identity, desire, and family in this instant classic about Nelson’s own relationship with her partner, artist Harry Dodge. By chronicling her experiences with domesticity and pregnancy in intimate detail, Nelson arrives at a complex, boundary-blurring portrait of modern queer motherhood.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
No feminist reading list is complete without this slim yet powerful 1899 novella, an early, not-quite modernist tale about Edna Pontellier, a well-to-do homemaker in New Orleans who begins to wonder what life might have to offer outside her narrowly prescribed role as a wife and mother.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Pretty much any Octavia E. Butler novel is a feminist must-read: Published between 1976 and 2005, her Afrofuturist science-fiction novels are visionary explorations of new worlds and timeless ethical dilemmas. We recommend starting with Parable of the Sower, the first novel in Butler’s postapocalyptic Earthseed duology.
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
A hybrid of essays and poetry, Claudia Rankine’s memoir-meets-art book provides an unflinching illumination of what it means to be Black—particularly a Black woman—in 21st-century America. From microaggressions to intentional acts of bias, Rankine creates a taxonomy of daily offenses perpetrated against Black Americans and challenges us all to consider our complicity.
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
In the nearly 200 years since its publication, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre has quite fairly assumed the status of classic feminist novel. If Eyre is a classic, Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea—a 1966 novel that gives life to the woman left behind by Brontë’s story—is a masterwork. In revisiting the character of Bertha Rochester and imagining her life up until the events of the original novel, Rhys bestows agency and dignity upon literature’s prototypical “madwoman in the attic.”
Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
The myth of the Wild Woman exists across cultures, from fairy tales to folklore. Usually she’s portrayed as someone to be feared, but in Jungian analyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s estimation, she’s something else entirely: an inner leader and model of behavior capable of guiding women on their own healing journeys. First published in 1992, Women Who Run with the Wolves earned the praise of many of Estés’s feminist contemporaries—including Alice Walker and Maya Angelou, two other authors on this list.
Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich
It’s impossible to discuss feminist poetry without mentioning Adrienne Rich, who was one of the most widely read poets of the 20th century, as well as a prominent intersectional feminist activist. Our pick for best volume to start with: Diving into the Wreck, a collection of particularly lyrical and angry poems—including “Rape,” a narrative poem often counted among Rich’s most significant works.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou’s 1969 autobiography was a game changer—not just in terms of the ways that literature discussed topics such as racism, sexism, and identity, but also with regard to our very understanding of autobiography as a genre. In it, Angelou explores her upbringing and life in Arkansas up until becoming a mother at age 16. Though making for heavy reading at times (Angelou’s brief account of childhood sexual assault looms over the whole book), I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings also introduced the literary establishment to entirely new ways of writing about women’s lives.
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
In 2015, when Stanford University student Brock Turner assaulted a woman identified by the pseudonym of Emily Doe, the case became a rallying cry for women across the United States. Because of the worst thing that had ever happened to her, Emily Doe became one of the most famous women in the world—all without anyone knowing her name. That changed in 2019, when Chanel Miller came forward as “Emily Doe” and released this memoir about her experience as an act of reclaiming her narrative identity.
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Before there was Y: The Last Man or The Power or Femlandia, there was Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s landmark novel about an idyllic society made up entirely of women. Gilman, a socialist lecturer and feminist theorist, had already achieved acclaim (and some scorn) for her now-classic short story The Yellow Wallpaper some decades before turning her focus to utopian fiction.
You Might Also Like
