33 Things Every Girl Should Know about Women's History: From Suffragettes to Skirt Lengths to the E.R.a

Even though I have studied Women's history in college, I still found some information I didn't know. For myself, reading about multicultural women and the differences they have made in the world, makes me proud to be a woman. Every woman should know their history. This book is also a quick read.

Tonya Bolden has selected excellent articles, pictures, excerpts from historical documents, a journal excerpt, a poem, and a short story to help girls learn the history and perspectives of more than half of the population that have been either left out or trivialized for too long. The problem is that, with the exception of Chapter 20 "Girl Groups Mean Girl Power," these selections were not written in a style that would appeal to young girls; therefore, I don't believe that most of them would take the time to read the entire book. Unfortunately, I wasn't exposed to any of these things until I was over 50 years old and earning a minor in Women's Studies in college, so it seems obvious to me that the information in this book should not be restricted to girls. Boys should also be learning this information that has been systematically left out of history classes. As long as books and classes continue to separate "women's" history from "men's" history, women's history will be ignored by men and boys as unimportant. I ordered this book to give to my teenaged granddaughter, but after reading it, I was disappointed that it just wasn't presented in a way that would pique her interest or that of her friends. I would love for her and her friends to read Bolden's book, but I really doubt that they would take the time.

33 things Every Female Should Know About Women's History is a charming and insiteful book. It contains 33 chapters each on a different aspect of woman's history. I was pleased to find that there were things I never thought to associate with woman's history. For example, there is a chapter devoted to National Monuments and how few are dedicated to women. It gives the locations of a few and then suggests sending for a pamphlet published by the US Government on how you can suggest a National Monument.Other chapters in this book include subjects such as magazine publishing, fashion, health issues, sports, short stories, politics and even a helpful book review.The only problem I had with the book wasn't anything the authors could have helped. Because there is such limited information on women's history, the chapters seemed to repeat the same information over and over. I do give them credit for trying to present it all in a different light though. I am definately going to pass this book on to my daughters (and sons) so that they can read about and appreciate the struggles women in the past have made so that women of the present can be free to do as they please.

I bought this book for my granddaughter but my daughter alsoread it. They both agreed with me that it is very informative.THis book sheds light on some less well known contributions to history by women. The list for other sources of information is really great and very helpful to encourage more research. I know my granddaughter was eager to learn more.