Reading List: International Women’s Day 2022

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we’ve compiled a reading list of recently published and forthcoming books.  These titles, all written or edited by women, showcase the diversity of women’s experiences in Canada and Internationally.

Wendat Women’s Arts

By Annette W. de Stecher

Breaking new ground in Indigenous art histories, Wendat Women’s Arts is the first book to bring together a full, richly illustrated history of the Wendat embroidery art form. De Stecher argues for the central role of Wendat women artists in the narrative of community events and ceremony to challenge the historical anonymity of Indigenous women.

University Women

A History of Women and Higher Education in Canada

By Sara Z. MacDonald

For the first generations of university women, higher education was a transformative experience, but these opportunities would narrow in the decades that followed. Examining the period between 1870 and 1930, University Women explores the processes of integration and separation that marked women’s contested entrance into higher education.

Women at the Helm

How Jean Sutherland Boggs, Hsio-yen Shih, and Shirley L. Thomson Changed the National Gallery of Canada

By Diana Nemiroff

Women at the Helm explores the accomplishments of the first three women to direct the National Gallery of Canada during three transformative decades in its history. From leadership styles to challenges faced to contributions to the institution, Nemiroff considers their remarkable careers and the obstacles still faced by women in leadership today.

In a New Light

Histories of Women and Energy

Edited by Abigail Harrison Moore and R.W. Sandwell

In a New Light explores the vital place of women in the shift to fossil fuels that spurred the Industrial Revolution, illuminating the variety of ways in which gender and energy intersected in women’s lives in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe and North America. Together these essays deepen our understanding of the significance of gender in the history of energy, and of energy transitions in the history of women and gender.

Daughters of Aataentsic

Life Stories from Seven Generations

By Kathryn Magee Labelle

Breaking new ground in both historical narratives and community-guided research in North America, Daughters of Aataentsic offers an alternative narrative by considering the ways in which individual Wendat/Wandat women resisted colonialism, preserved their culture, and acted as matriarchs.

Schooling the System

A History of Black Women Teachers

By Funké Aladejebi

As schools continue to grapple with creating diverse educational programs for all Canadians, Schooling the System is a timely excavation of the meaningful contributions of black women educators who helped create equitable policies and practices in schools and communities.