We aren’t here to give you a long documentary kind of essay on where feminism comes from and its origin. We could do that, but you can also use Google Scholar and find information on pages like UN Women or even History.com. However, we can share some of the books that have been recommended and have great ratings and comments regarding the feminism movement that started a long time ago.

Please, when you read this article and the books recommended use your analytical glasses and open your mind to see the different points and ideas regarding feminism, equity, and diversity. Also, remember that we are just sharing content, we are doing part of the work, but you are the one that will do the listening and reading!

So if you want to be part of the process and do not be just a bystander, check the following books!

Against White Feminism by Rafia Zakaria

An American Muslim woman, attorney, and political philosopher, Rafia Zakaria champions a reconstruction of feminism by centering women of color in this transformative overview and counter-manifesto to White feminism’s global, long-standing affinity with colonial, patriarchal, and white supremacist ideals.

Covering topics like the legacy of the British feminist imperialist savior complex and “the colonial thesis that all reform comes from the West” to the conflation of sexual liberation as the “sum total of empowerment”, Zakaria ultimately refutes and reimagines the apolitical aspirations of White feminist empowerment in this staggering, radical critique, with Black and Brown feminist thought at the forefront.

Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity by Judith Butler

One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past 50 years, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble is as celebrated as it is controversial. Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, “essential” notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category “woman” and continues in this vein with examinations of “the masculine” and “the feminine.”

The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan

Part social chronicle, part manifesto, published in 1963, The Feminine Mystique gave a pitch-perfect description of “the problem that has no name”: the insidious beliefs and institutions that undermined women’s confidence in their intellectual capabilities and kept them in the home. Writing in a time when the average woman first married in her teens and 60 percent of women students dropped out of college to marry, Betty Friedan captured the frustrations and thwarted ambitions of a generation and showed women how they could reclaim their lives.

Fight Like a Girl by

Online sensation, fearless feminist heroine, and scourge of trolls and misogynists everywhere, Clementine Ford is a beacon of hope and inspiration to thousands of Australian women and girls. Her incendiary debut Fight Like A Girl is an essential manifesto for feminists new, old and soon-to-be, and exposes just how unequal the world continues to be for women. Crucially, it is a call to arms for all women to rediscover the fury that has been suppressed by a society that still considers feminism a threat.

Fight Like A Girl will make you laugh, cry, and scream. But above all, it will make you demand and fight for a world in which women have equality and not merely the illusion of it.

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With these books, we challenge you to read or listen to more books about a movement that has centuries fighting for equity. 

Remember female suffrage happened not long ago. What are 70 to 100 years? That isn’t long ago, so how much have things changed? And how much is still missing? Are equity and equality a reality? How many generations have passed since then? Think about it.

Also, we don’t know it all, but what matters is sharing the knowledge! So if there is a book that we didn’t include, we encourage you to add it ​​in the comments!