International Women’s Day marks an opportunity to learn about and reflect on women’s achievements, history, and current challenges. It is a reminder that our freedoms and privileges were hard fought for, and that continues in different ways worldwide and at home. I believe that education is a foundation for freedom, and these are just a few resources to learn more about the women who built the world we stand on, so we can carry their work forward.
Status Quo? The Unfinished Business of Feminism in Canada (2012) is a documentary available for free on the National Film Board. While this is older, it acts as a good historical resource. The documentary covers the 1967 Royal Commission on the Status of Women, issues of domestic abuse, the abortion movement in Canada from pre-Morgentaler case and up to 2012, the development of childcare systems in Canada, and the Live-In Caregiver Program. For anyone interested in Canadian women’s issues, this is an excellent starting point.Â
What’shername? is a podcast dedicated to telling stories of women that history has overlooked. Created by academics Dr. Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle, each episode blends in-depth research with expert interviews, making it both academic and engaging. They also published a book of the same name What’s Her Name: A History of the World in 80 Lost Women (2024) –– a collection of some of the stories featured on the podcast. In a recent episode, they spoke about Jarena Lee, an African American Methodist preacher in the early 19th century –– someone whom, as the podcast title suggests, I’d never heard of, but whose story was well worth hearing.
If you are looking for something short and sweet then Womanica creates on the same premise, telling stories of women you may not have heard of. This podcast does that for just five minutes a day, giving a short overview of a specific woman’s place in history. They tell the stories of women of myth like Medusa to authors like Toni Morrison, and everyone in between.Â
The Power of Days (2023) recounts the story of Days for Girls International as told by its founder, Celeste Mergens. Days for Girls is a charitable organization that works to address period poverty and remove the stigma associated with menstruation. They provide reusable menstruation products and health education, help local leaders establish businesses to make their own menstruation products, and do advocacy work to advance menstrual equity worldwide. The Power of Days chronicles the beginnings of the organization with the discovery of what happens when people don’t have access to period care, and how their DfG Pad, health education program, and independent branches were formed. The book tells both the successes and failures, and acts as a memoir of Mergens’ personal and professional struggles throughout the organization’s development.Â
Wicked Little Letters (2023) is the fun pick for this article. Based on a true story, this comedy follows polar-opposite neighbours in the 1920s: rowdy Irish immigrant Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley) and devoutly religious Edith Swan (Olivia Colman). When Edith and the other residents of their small English town start receiving anonymous, scandalous letters full of profanities and insults, the first suspect is the rebellious Rose. The uproar grows into a national spectacle and a trial –– but as the investigation unfolds, the women of the town start to wonder if Rose might actually be innocent. This movie about an absolutely unapologetic woman is hilarious and heartfelt, and the historical story I didn’t know I needed to watch. Â
These are just a few resources from a much larger library of women’s stories that deserve to be heard. Mar. 8 is a great day to sit with them –– and to remember that women’s right to work, to learn, to vote, and to have a voice are hard-won gifts from women who believed in a future they barely got to witness. It’s a day for celebration, reflection, and recommitting to keep fighting for the future you want to pass on.Â
