International Women’s Day is on March 8 and it is a time to celebrate the achievements of amazing women and work towards creating a gender equal world.

This year’s theme is Break the Bias, a movement to empower people to take responsibility for their thoughts and actions and speak up against bias in our communities, workplaces, schools, colleges and universities. Here are some books breaking the mould:

📚 Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough

Based on the true story of Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the first women in history to take her sexual assault case to court, it is a book full of courage, ferocity and the determination to not be silenced.

📚 The Women’s Suffrage Movement by Elizabeth Vogt

It is an illuminating look not just at well-known suffragists, but at the Native American and African American women who had been overlooked but were crucial to the history of the movement.

📚 Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer

Schaefer has put together a sociological perspective on the way we see our friends today, and I found her celebration of female friendship inspiring and validating.

📚 Liberated Spirits by Hugh Ambrose and John Schuttler

Liberated Spirits tells the little known, very true story of Mabel Willebrandt and Pauline Sabin. These two strong ladies played major roles in the history of Prohibition, a time that enabled women to redefine themselves and their place in society. This book made me feel proud of women’s roles in the history of this country and showed the difference individuals can make in changing the world.

📚 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives of 12 characters in the United Kingdom over the course of several decades. Some of the themes explored in the characters’ lives are racism, feminism, politics, patriarchy, success, relationships, gender, and sexuality.

📚 Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

The book describes the adverse effects on women caused by gender bias in big data collection.

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

The book discusses the effect of sexism on scientific research, and how that sexism influences social beliefs.

📚 Second Spring: 2022’s new self-care guide to help you through menopause by Kate Codrington

Second Spring is a new kind of menopause book, bringing the radical notion that with small changes and a clear-eyed look at what’s no longer serving you, you can reclaim your vitality and joy in life.

📚 I Hate Men: More than a banned book, the must-read on feminism, sexism and the patriarchy for every woman by Pauline Harmange

The feminist book they tried to ban in France. Women, especially feminists and lesbians, have long been accused of hating men. Our instinct is to deny it at all costs. (After all, women have been burnt at the stake for admitting to less.) But what if mistrusting men, disliking men – and yes, maybe even hating men – is, in fact, a useful response to sexism?

📚 Mother of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored in an Economy Built for Men by Katrine Marçal

Bestselling author Katrine Marçal reveals the shocking ways our deeply ingrained ideas about gender continue to hold us back. Every day, extraordinary inventions and innovative ideas are side-lined in a world that remains subservient to men.

📚 Why Women Are Poorer Than Men & What We Can Do About It by Annabelle Williams

In her book Why Women Are Poorer Than Men former financial journalist for The Times, Annabelle Williams, reveals what got us to where we are and what we can do to incite positive change. Finance is a feminist issue and the gender pay gap is only part of the story. In order to guarantee true financial equality, women need to reclaim parts of the system they have been culturally excluded from, from pensions to pay structures, to investments.

📚 The Authority Gap by Mary Ann Sieghart

Drawing on current research and conversation with some of the world’s most powerful women including Jacinda Ardern and Hillary Clinton, Women & Leadership is a timely call for a seismic change in the stale patterns of authority.

📚 The Motherhood Penalty by Joeli Brearley

Exploring the stark reality of motherhood and career discrimination, author Joeli Brearley – who was sacked whilst pregnant via voicemail (true story!) – highlights the price women pay throughout their career if they decide to have a child.

📚 Dangerous Women: Fifty Reflections on Women, Power and Identity by Abrisham Ahmadzadeh, Ben Fletcher-Watson, and Jo Shaw

What, really, does it mean to be a dangerous woman? This powerful anthology presents fifty answers to that question, reaching past media hyperbole to explore serious considerations about the conflicts and power dynamics with which women live today.

What books would you recommend? Leave your comments below!

Support women every day, but here’s where to find all the latest events for IWD 2022.