International Women's Day 2026 - Nonfiction for Adults

March 8, 2026 is the 115th International Women's Day! This year's theme is "Give to Gain" so enjoy these reads highlighting women though history who have given their all to move the rights of women forward.

Updated March 6, 2026
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The abortion caravan : when women shut down government in the battle for the right to choose
Wells, Karin
Paper Book
In the spring of 1970, seventeen women set out from Vancouver in a big yellow convertible, a Volkswagen bus, and a pickup truck. They called it the Abortion Caravan. Three thousand miles later, they "occupied" the prime minister's front lawn in Ottawa, led a rally of 500 women on Parliament Hill,...
Around the Kitchen Table: Métis Aunties' Scholarship
Forsythe, Laura
Honouring the scholarship of Métis matriarchs While surveying the field of Indigenous studies, Laura Forsythe and Jennifer Markides recognized a critical need for not only a Métis-focused volume, but one dedicated to the contributions of Métis women. To address this need, they brought...
The bluestockings : a history of the first women's movement
Gibson, Susannah
Paper Book
In England in the 1700s, a woman who was an intellectual, spoke out, or wrote professionally was considered unnatural. After all, as the wisdom of the era dictated, a clever woman--if there were such a thing--would never make a good wife. But a circle of women called the Bluestockings did...
The club : where American women artists found refuge in Belle Époque Paris
Dasal, Jennifer
Paper Book
"Through masterful research and sparkling prose, The Club feels like an exclusive invitation to a Parisian enclave during an era of artistic and social transformation." -Michael Finkel, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Art Thief A...
Demanding equality : one hundred years of Canadian feminism
Sangster, Joan
Paper Book
For one hundred years women fashioned different dreams of social transformation in their search for equality, autonomy, and dignity; yet what is Canadian feminism? Demanding Equality offers illustrations of feminist thought and organizing from mid-nineteenth-century, Enlightenment-inspired...
The equivalents : a story of art, female friendship, and liberation in the 1960s
Doherty, Maggie
Paper Book
The timely, never-before-told story of five brilliant, passionate women who, in the early 1960s, converged at the newly founded Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study and became friends as well as artistic collaborators, and who went on to shape the course of feminism in ways that are still...
Feminism's Fight: Challenging Politics and Policies in Canada Since 1970
Cameron, Barbara
Paper Book
Feminism's Fight explores and assesses feminist strategies to advance gender justice for women through Canadian federal policy over the past fifty years, from the 1970 Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women to the present. The authors evaluate changing government...
Flowers of fire : the inside story of South Korea's feminist movement and what it means for women's rights worldwide
Jung, Hawon
Paper Book
Listed in the best books of 2023 by The Economist "Invigorating debut . . . [a] full-throated rallying cry." --Publishers Weekly One of Ms. Magazine's "most-anticipated feminist books of 2023" An eye-opening firsthand...
Light the road of freedom
Al-Barbari, Sahbaa
Paper Book
Sahbaa Al-Barbari's story provides a unique perspective on Palestinian experiences before and after the 1948 Nakba. Born and educated in Gaza, Al-Barbari was an activist in her community. When Israel occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, Al-Barbari and her husband Mu'in Bseiso became refugees, stripped...
Making space for Indigenous feminism
Starblanket, Gina
Paper Book
The third edition of the iconic collection Making Space for Indigenous Feminism features feminist, queer and two-spirit voices from across generations and locations. Feminism has much to offer Indigenous women, and all Indigenous Peoples, in their struggles against oppression....
Misbehaving at the crossroads : essays & writings
Jeffers, Honorée Fanonne
Paper Book
The New York Times-bestselling, National Book Award-nominated author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois and The Age of Phillis makes her nonfiction debut with this personal and thought-provoking work of cultural criticism that explores the journeys and possibilities of...
Outspoken : my fight for freedom and human rights in Afghanistan
Samar, Sima
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 MOORE PRIZE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS NATIONAL BESTSELLER The impassioned memoir of Afghanistan's Sima Samar: medical doctor, public official, founder of schools and hospitals, thorn in the side of the Taliban, nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, and...
The visionaries : Arendt, Beauvoir, Rand, Weil, and the power of philosophy in dark times
Eilenberger, Wolfram
Paper Book
A soaring intellectual narrative starring the radical, brilliant, and provocative philosophers Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, Simone Weil, and Ayn Rand by the critically acclaimed author of Time of the Magicians, Wolfram Eilenberger The period from 1933 to 1943 was one...
Wages for housework : the feminist fight against unpaid labor
Callaci, Emily
Paper Book
The revelatory story of a radical campaign to change the way we value work "Illuminating, honest, nuanced, Wages for Housework is a must-read for anyone seeking to make a just and sustainable world for all." ―Robin D. G....
Woman life freedom : poems for the Iranian revolution
Zan, Bänoo
Paper Book
This international anthology marks a world-historical moment: the first ever feminist revolution. The slogan chanted by the demonstrators in Iran is Woman, Life, Freedom, and it encompasses hopes and ideals for all people everywhere. This anthology echoes that cry. The poems here might be...
Women winning office : an activist's guide to getting elected
Nash, Peggy
Paper Book
When Peggy Nash first decided to run for elected office, she had no idea where to start, who to contact, or what the rules were. For those who are underrepresented in political life, politics can seem like a secret society designed to shut them out. Women Winning Office is a practical...

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