Women’s Equality Day is August 26, the day that women were gained the constitutional right to vote. Technically, the 19th Amendment allowed women the right to vote nationally on August 18, 1920, when it was ratified. In 1971, however, Representative Bella Abzug pushed forward a bill in the U.S. Congress to declare August 26 as “Women’s Equality Day.” The bill says that “the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation annually in commemoration of that day in 1920, on which the women of America were first given the right to vote.”
This day is so important, now more than ever, especially for women in America. There are many political attacks like the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe. Vs. Wade, which gave women the constitutional right to choose. Women’s Equality Day is a reminder of how powerful and resilient all women are, against all the adversities that life throws us!
Here are some books and LibGuides from the Rutgers Collection that celebrate how amazing women are!
- Women in Caribbean Politics by Cynthia Barrow Giles – Link to Read
My family is Jamaican, so when I was researching books to include for this post, I found this book dug deep within the Rutgers collection and had to include it. As a young woman with Jamaican heritage, I wanted to include a book that celebrates Jamaican and other women in the region who are fighting for equality in the Caribbean. It’s amazing that books like this exist to highlight Jamaican and other Caribbean women’s perspectives on gender equality, social justice and development.
Description: Historically, women have been under-represented in politics. Patriarchal political parties, debilitating customs and discriminatory selection processes, and obstructionist attitudes have generally contributed to the inability of women to enter mainstream political life in a significant way. In Women in Caribbean Politics Cynthia Barrow-Giles and her co-contributors profile 20 of the most influential women in modern Caribbean politics who have struggled and excelled, in spite of the obstacles. . .
Read the full description from Ian Randle Publishers.
- Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara Ransby – Link to Read
Before reading this book, I had never heard of Ella Baker and her work. Reading some of this book gave me a new perspective on how women’s rights intertwined with the Civil Rights Movement. Not only was Ella Baker a powerful Civil Rights activist, she was a national officer and key figure in the NAACP, a founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and a prime mover in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Barbara Ransby expands on Ella Baker’s expansive, fifty-year long career, from her humble beginnings in 1903 in Norfolk, VA and Littleton, NC to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in the 1970s, with everything in between.
Description: One of the most important African American leaders of the twentieth century and perhaps the most influential woman in the civil rights movement, Ella Baker (1903-1986) was an activist whose remarkable career spanned fifty years and touched thousands of lives. A gifted grassroots organizer, Baker shunned the spotlight in favor of vital behind-the-scenes work that helped power the Black freedom struggle. In this definitive biography, Barbara Ransby chronicles Baker’s long and rich career . . .
Read the full description from University of North Carolina Press.
- There She Goes Again: Gender, Power, and Knowledge in Contemporary Film and Television Franchises by Aviva Dove-Viebahn – Link to Read
This is an interesting book I found throughout the Collection that focuses on how female characters are analyzed in popular films and television. As we know, over the years, female characters have been portrayed in negative ways, such as a “damsel in distress”, weak, gullible, or always needed a man to save them. But in recent times, there has been a surge of confident, strong female characters who know how to hold their own against 
a world that keeps fighting against them. In this book, Dove-Viebahn explores franchises like Charlie’s Angels, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Terminator, and Resident Evil and how they approach femininity and strength. Dove-Viebahn also takes into consideration how these media views on “girl power” can still have misogynistic undertones, especially through intersectional feminism, like race, sexuality and age. Dove-Viebahn teaches film and media studies at Arizona State University, but this book is good analysis for readers outside of school to gain a better perspective of how women are represented in media.
Description: There She Goes Again interrogates the representation of ostensibly powerful women in transmedia franchises, examining how presumed feminine traits-love, empathy, altruism, diplomacy-are alternately lauded and repudiated as possibilities for effecting long-lasting social change. knowledge and power are presumed distinctly feminine . . .
Read the full description from Rutgers University Press.
Here are some LibGuides that center around Women’s and Gender Studies:
- Women & Work – Guide to library resources for research in Women & Work
- Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies – This guide presents select resources for research on women and gender issues.
- Women and Health – This guide is for students in the Women & Health class at the Bloustein School.
- Women and Science – This guide is for the students in the SEBS Honors Seminar Women and Science. Fall 2019. Instructors: Distinguished Professor Joan W. Bennett and Visiting Professor Catherine Read.
- Women, Inequality, and Public Policy – This guide for students in the course Women, Inequality, and Public Policy provides information on finding research resources for students’ assignments.
- Politics of Reproduction – This guide points to resources that address issues of reproduction.
LGBTQ+ women play an even bigger part of Women’s rights, especially transgender women. Transgender and other LGBTQ+ women deserve to be celebrated in the world, as well.
- LGBTQ, Race, and Popular Culture – Here is a LibGuide on searching for books, articles and more on LGBTQ+ women in terms of race and pop culture.
- Transgender Issues and Resources – Created and maintained by Kayo Denda, this guide highlights information on transgender and LGBTQ+ issues at Rutgers University Libraries and beyond.
I hope you found all the information helpful on this special day surrounding empowering women of the world. Happy Women’s Equality Day!