International Women's Day is celebrated every year on March 8 to recognise the cultural, political, social and economic achievements of women. This year's theme, "Rights. Justice. Action. For All Women and Girls," announced by the United Nations, focuses on dismantling barriers to equality and ensuring justice for women across the world.
Books can be a powerful way to celebrate the day. Reading stories and ideas written by women offers new perspectives, inspiring journeys and powerful insights into society and global issues. Here is a curated list of books written by women, based on recommendations from platforms such as Medium and Time Magazine.
1. Inside the UN Security Council by Jess Gifkins
The book will appeal to a wide audience, as it illustrates the previously underplayed role of the ten non-permanent members, challenges rational models that overlook when actors choose to take action for optics and points to the implications of China's increasing influence.
2. Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum
Autocracy, Inc. combines a fascinating account of how the autocrat's involvement in sanctions-busting, arms trade and drug-dealing, combined with an eye-opening description of the ways in which a host of western banks, lawyers, real-estate agents and media sympathizers have lined their pockets with the profits from money-laundering activities.
3. The Uncertainty Doctrine by Alexandra Homolar
In this fresh and ambitious take on the role of narratives in US foreign policy, Alexandra Homolar questions why the end of the Cold War brought about many changes to the international arena but spelled continuity for US security strategy.
4. Cosmopolitan Elites by Kira Huju
Connoisseurs of Kira Huju's 2022 International Affairs article, 'Saffronizing diplomacy: the Indian Foreign Service under Hindu nationalist rule', will find Huju's first book eminently rewarding.
5. PeaceTech by Christine Bell
In this open-access and timely book, Christine Bell re-energizes the debate on how emerging technologies can be deployed in conflict and peacebuilding settings. Bell warns against the appeal of 'shiny new things' and questions the assumption that digital innovation can automatically improve peacebuilding practices.
6. Governing the feminist peace by Paul Kirby and Laura J. Shepherd
Beyond its brilliantly illustrated cover, this co-authored book has a much wider appeal. Paul Kirby and Laura Shepherd have teamed up for a provocative and convincing critique of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, as a product of specific global governance frameworks.
7. Reluctance in world politics by Sandra Destradi
The author offers a new and multidimensional theory of reluctance that breaks with the idea that 'reluctant hegemons' are unwilling to lead.
8. Police peacekeeping by Lou Pingeot
In Police peacekeeping, Lou Pingeot tackles the United Nations' deployment of police units in its peace operations through the case-study of the UN mission in Haiti (2004-17).
9. The Kindness of Enemies By Leila Aboulela
The Sudanese-born novelist who now lives in Scotland tells the story of a Sudanese-Russian professor (also living in Scotland) who studies the 19th-century Caucasian War. When she meets a student whose family owns a famous sword from the battles, both their lives become complicated-and the young man is taken into custody.
10. The Girl in the Red Coat By Kate Hamer
When Beth, a British single mother, loses sight of her daughter, Carmel, in a crowd, it's the beginning of a long, painful separation for both. The 8-year-old has been taken by an older man who says he's her grandfather and that her mother has died in an accident.
11. The Book of Memory By Petina Gappah
An Albino woman named Memory is imprisoned for murder in Harare, Zimbabwe, accused of killing her white adoptive father. To prove her innocence and save herself from the death penalty, she begins writing down everything she knows-but the details prove hazy and the facts of her unusual life are elusive.
12. The Man Who Snapped His Fingers By Fariba Hachtroudi
Two exiled citizens of the totalitarian "Theological Republic" meet somewhere in northern Europe-one a former colonel to the "Supreme Commander," the other a former prisoner known for having refused to name names.
13. An Enchantress of Numbers: A Novel of Ada Lovelace
The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered, and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada was destined for fame long before her birth. But her mathematician mother, estranged from Ada's infamous and destructively passionate father, is determined to save her only child from her perilous Byron heritage.
14. Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed The World by Rachel Ignotofsky
A charmingly illustrated and educational book, New York Times best seller Women in Science highlights the contributions of fifty notable women to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) from the ancient to the modern world.
15. My Beloved World- Sonia Sotomayor
The first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting Justice, she recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.
