Our faculty and staff were each asked to recommend a book on gender equity to read over the summer, and here is the “Top Ten” from the Gender Equity Unit’s Second Annual Summer Reading List. Check out both fiction and non-fiction stories of women and gender diverse people across the globe! Happy summer reading, and we invite you to post book reviews on our social media channels – they will be appreciated by our global community.
- Flowers of Fire by Hawon Jung
BenBella Books, March 2023
“An eye-opening firsthand account of the ongoing and trailblazing feminist movement in South Korea—one that the world should be watching.”
- Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
Firebrand Books, March 1993
“In this revolutionary novel, Feinberg explodes the myth of the binary gender system and the feminist notion that butchness is apolitical. The scenes of early queer society are brought to vivacious life—I laughed, I cried, and felt right at home.”
- Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H
Dial Press Trade Paperback, February 2024
“A queer hijabi Muslim immigrant survives her coming-of-age by drawing strength and hope from stories in the Quran in this ‘raw and relatable memoir that challenges societal norms and expectations.’”
- Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq (translated by Deepa Bhasthi)
And Other Stories, April 2025
“A monumental first collection in English from Banu Mushtaq: lawyer, activist, champion of Muslim women, and winner of India’s highest literary honors. In the twelve stories of Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq exquisitely captures the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India.”
- The Last Queen by Chita Banerjee Divakaruni
William Morrow Paperbacks, May 2022
“She rose from commoner to become the last reigning queen of India’s Sikh Empire. In this dazzling novel, based on true-life events, bestselling author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni presents the unforgettable story of Jindan, who transformed herself from daughter of the royal kennel keeper to powerful monarch.”
- The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Vintage, September 2020
“More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.”
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Penguin Books, December 2019
“The Color Purple writes a message of healing, forgiveness, self-discovery, and sisterhood to a new generation of readers. An inspiration to authors who continue to give voice to the multidimensionality of Black women’s stories, including Tayari Jones, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Jesmyn Ward, and more, The Color Purple remains an essential read in conversation with storytellers today.”
- Inclusion, Exclusion, Agency, and Advocacy: Experiences of Women With Physical Disabilities in China, With Worldwide Implications by Luanjiao Hu
Information Age Publishing, August 2024
“This book mainly explores the lived experiences of six women, including the author herself, with physical disabilities in China. The book explores answers to some of these questions: How do physically disabled women make sense of their experiences? What are some of the empowering and/or disempowering moments/events in their lives, if any? What are disabled women’s experiences in terms of education, employment, relationships, family life, and social activism? How does some of the disabled women in the book become motivated and mobilized to work on disability issues?”
- Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
Penguin Random House, October 2019
“Fair Play gives us permission to create our own values that introduce equity into our households, creating an equitable shift in domestic workload, and setting examples for our children: that is the revolution. Imagine what could be different about you, your relationships and the world, if we collectively decided to play fair.”
- Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Vintage, April 2022
“Glitz and guts square off in Great Circle: a tale of two women set apart by a century, fighting to retain control of their own lives in a society that demands subservience. Shipstead is adept at writing so vividly, the reader can feel the thrill and pain of her characters. Cunningly crafted. . . richly layered, a joy to read . . . riveting.”