Celebrating Women's History Month

31 Days of Women’s Impact this March!

YWCA MISSION LOGO

#WomensHistoryMonth #31DaysOfWomensImpact

This March, in honor of Women’s History Month, YWCA USA will launch our 31 Days of Women’s Impact Initiative, during which we’ll highlight the achievements of women past and present in a wide range of industries while highlighting how we’re continuing the work of empowering the women of today and tomorrow.

Follow along on social media and engage with us as we celebrate women in law, finance, sports, and more, while empowering women and girls through such programming as trauma-informed care, entrepreneurship, and STEM. #WomensHistoryMonth #31DaysOfWomensImpact

https://www.facebook.com/ywcagenesee.org/

Women's History Month

Inspiring Reads‎

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman by Christ Barton and Ekua Holmes
The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
For Colored Girls who Have Considered Politics by Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah Daughtry, Minyon Moore
Quiet by Susan Cain
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Firebird by Misty Copeland
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Remember the Ladies: Celebrating Those Who Fought for Freedom at the Ballet Box by Angela P. Dodson
The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You by Lydia Fenet
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Self Made by Nely Galan
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Personal History by Katharine Graham
This Little Trailblazer – A Girl Power Primer by Joan Holub and Daniel Rodde
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward by Valerie Jarrett
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anee Lamott
Dear Malala, We Stand with You by Rosemary A McCarney
Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
More Than Ready by Cecilia Munoz
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales – Parallel Spanish edition, Sonadores
Becoming by Michelle Obama
In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from Over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs Know Your Power by Nancy Pelosi
From this Day Forward by Cokie and Steve Roberts
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
Persepolis, The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
24 Years of House Work … and the Place Is Still a Mess: My Life in Politics by Pat Schroeder
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon by Suzanne Slade
Keep It Moving by Twyla Tharp
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Useless Magic: Lyrics and Poetry by Florence Welch
Educated by Tara Westover
Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf
All the Women in My Family Sing: Women Write the World — Essays on Equality, Justice, and Freedom by Various Authors

Women in Civil Rights

Audre Lorde – Author, Activist
Bell Hooks – Activist, Author, Feminist Historian
Claudette Colvin – refused to give up her seat on the bus nine months before Rosa Parks
Dorothy Height – Civil Rights and women’s rights activist, Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee, YWCA Harlem Staff, former President of the National Council of Negro Women
Eleanor Roosevelt – Advocate for human and women’s rights
Emma Gonzalez – Civil Rights Activist
Grace Lee Boggs – Civil Rights Activist, Author
Harriet Tubman – Abolitionist
Ida B. Wells – led a movement against lynching in the 1890s through written essays and other forms of activism
Janet Mock – Transgender Rights Activist, New York Times bestseller, “Redefining Realness”
Jazz Jennings – LGBTQ+ Activist, Author
Joanne Bland – Cofounder and former director of the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Alabama, Youngest person to have been jailed during nay civil rights demonstration during that period.
Laverne Cox – Actress, Transgender Activist
Lucy Acosta – former Mexican American activist with the League of United Latin American Citizens
Marsha P Johnson – “Mayor of Christopher Street” transgender woman who helped lead the Stonewall uprising
Rosa Parks – Montgomery Bus boycott
Ruby Bridges – First African American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana
Sylvia Rivera – Latinx Stonewall Activist, founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR)

Women in the Food and Beverage Industry

Amelia Simmons – American Cookery (first known American cookbook) author
Barbara Lynch – Boston restauranteur, 2017 listee on Time’s Top 100 Most Influential People of the Year”
Bethenny Frankel – Skinny Girl Margarita Founder
Cristeta Comerfeld – Former White House Chef
Edna Lewis – African American chef known for refining the image of Southern cooking
Ina Garten – host of Barefoot Contessa
Joyce Chen – popularized Northern-style Chinese restaurants in the US, invented and held the patent for the plat bottom wok with a handle
Julia Child – author, Mastering the Art of French Cooking and The French Chef host
Maggie Timoney – CEO of Heineken
Malinda Russell – first-known cookbook by an African American woman in the US
Marcella Hazan – Cookbook Author, famous for introducing the techniques of traditional Italian cooking to the US
Marion Nestle – Food activist, nutritionist, and author, Professor at NYU
Nancy Silverton – James Beard Foundation Outstanding Chef Award (2014)
Padma Lakshmi – Host of Top Chef
Rachael Ray – Food Network chef

Women in Media

Jill Abramson – former Executive Editor of the New York Times
Christiane Amanpour – Chief International Anchor for CNN
Kylie Atwood – National Security Correspondent for CNN

Brooke Baldwin – Host of CNN Newsroom

Dana Bash – Chief Political Correspondent for CNN

Melissa Block – former host of NPR’s All Things Considered, special correspondent for NPR

Kate Bolduan – Anchor and Host of “At This Hour” on CNN
Gloria Borger – Chief Political Analyst at CNN
Tina Brown – Journalist and Talk-Show Host, President and CEO of Tina Brown Live Media
Vanessa Bush – Editor-in-Chief of ESSENCE
Ana Cabrera – CNN Anchor
Gretchen Carlson – Journalist
Kaitlan Collins – White House Correspondent for CNN
Audie Cornish – co-host of All Things Considered on NPR
Katie Couric – Journalist
Ann Curry – Journalist and Photojournalist
Morgan DeBaun – founder and CEO of Blavity Inc.
Nina dos Santos – Europe Editor for CNN
Alice Allison Dunnigan – first African-American female correspondent to receive White House credentials as well as for the Senate and House Press Galleries
Katharine Graham – former owner of The Washington Post, Publisher
Terry Gross – Host of Fresh Air on NPR
Brianna Keilar – Senior Political Correspondent for CNN
Megyn Kelly – Journalist
Lisa Ling – Journalist, host of This is Life with Lisa Ling on CNN
Rachel Maddow – host of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC
Alicia Menendez – Television Commentator, Host, and Author of The Likeability Trap
Renée Montagne – Journalist and former co-host of NPR’s Morning Edition
Ariana Huffington – founder of The Huffington Post
Gwen Ifill – Journalist, first woman of African descent to host a nationally televised US public affairs program with Washington Week in Review
Abby Phillip – White House Correspondent for CNN
Sylvia Poggioli – Senior European Correspondent for NPR’s Internal Desk
Joy Reid – National Correspondent at MSNBC
Cokie Roberts – former political reporter and analyst for NPR and ABC News
Robin Roberts – Anchor of Good Morning America
Ann Newport Royall – first female journalist in the United States
Diane Sawyer – Anchor of ABC World News
Susan Stamberg – Special Correspondent for NPR
Helen Thomas – longtime member of the White House press corps from the start of the Kennedy Administration to the Second year of the Obama Administration
Robin Toner – Journalist, first woman to be National Political Correspondent for The New York Times
Nina Totenberg – legal correspondent for NPR

Barbara Walters – Journalist, former host of Today, The View, 20/20, and the ABC Evening News

Ida B. Wells – Journalist, a founder of the NAACP

Anna Wintour – Editor-in-Chief of Vogue

Oprah Winfrey – founder of The Oprah Winfrey Network, longtime TV Host and Media Executive

Judy Woodruff – Journalist, Anchor and Managing editor of the PBS NewsHour

Women in Business

Ana Corrales – COO for Google’s Consumer Hardwar Business

Abigail Johnson – President and CEO of Fidelity

Ana Corrales – COO for Google’s Consumer Hardwar Business

Barbara Corcoran – Real Estate Mogul

Bea Dixon – CEO/Founder of The Honey Pot Company

Bessie Coleman – First African American and Native American woman to hold a pilot license

Mary Kay Ash – Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics

Janice Bryant Howroyd – CEO of Act One

Tory Burch – Founder of Tory Burch and Tory Burch Foundation

Safra Catz – CEO of Oracle

Ester Choo – Founder of Time’s Up Healthcare

Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner – Inventor of menstrual pads

Melinda Gates – Co-Founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Former GM at Microsoft

Ariana Huffington – Founder of the Huffington Post and CEO of Thrive Global

Kylie Jenner –Founder and CEO of Kyle Cosmetics

Sheila Johnson – Co-Founder of BET, CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts

Lesa Kennedy – Chairperson of Board of Directors of NASCAR

Marjorie Merriweather Post – Owner of General Foods, Inc

Kim Ng – MLB Executive, Senior VP of Operations

Indra Nooyi – Former CEO of PepsiCo

Maria Rios – CEO of Nation Waste, Inc.

Michele Roberts – Executive Director, NBA Players Association

Sheryl Sandberg – COO of Facebook and Author of Leanin.org

Madam C.J. Walker – First African America woman to become a self-made millionaire

Lettie Pate Whitehead – First woman to serve on board of directors of a major corporation (Coca-Cola)

Oprah Winfrey – Chairwoman and CEO of Harpo Production and Chairwoman, CEO, and CCO of Oprah Winfrey Network

Women In Science

Annie Easley – Computer Scientist, Mathematician, and Rocket Science. Worked for the Lewis Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
Alice Ball – African American chemist credited for developing the “Ball Method,” the best treatment for leprosy during the early 20th century
Alex Canady – Neurosurgeon, first African American and Black person to become a neurosurgeon
Barbara McClintock – Scientist and Cytogeneticist, awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology
Dorothy Vaughn – scientist behind the NASA space race
Flosse Wong-Staal – Virologist and Molecular Biologist, first scientist to clone HIV and determine the function of its genes, which was a major step in proving that HIV is the cause of AIDS
Gertrude B. Elion – Biochemist, 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology recipient
Gladys West – Mathematician known for her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth, and her work on the development of the satellite geodesy models that were eventually incorporated into the Global Positioning System
Dr. Gwen Nichols – Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Hadiyah-Nicole Green – Dr. Known for her development of a process that has the potential to help in the evolution of a novel cancer treatment using laser-activated nanoparticles
Henrietta Lacks – originator of HeLa cells, which are used to study the effects of toxins, drugs, hormones, and viruses on the growth of cancer cells without experimenting on humans
Henrietta Leavitt – American astronomer, measured and cataloged the brightness of stars
Joy Buolamwini – Founded the Algorithmic Justice League. Research Assistant at MIT Media Lab and TedTalk presenter
Katherine Johnson – American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent US crewed spaceflights
Mae C Jemison – first Black woman to travel into space
Mary Jackson – African American mathematician and aerospace engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
Maryam Mirzakhani – Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University, honored with the Fields Award
Mayly Sanchez – Particle Physicist
Patricia Bath – Opthamologist and early pioneer of laser cataract surgery
Ruby Hirose – Biochemisty and Bacteriologist, researched blood clotting and Thrombin, allergies, and researched cancer using anitimetabolites
Sunita Williams – Astronaut, former record holder for total spacewalks by a woman and longest spacewalk time for a woman
Susan La Flesch Picotte – Doctor, first Native American to earn a medical degree

Women in Law

Ada Kepley – first American woman to graduate from law school (1870)
Alta Hulett – helped draft the nation’s first anti-sex-discrimination law (1872) at age 17
Arabella Babb Mansfield – first woman admitted to a state bar in the US (June, 1869)
Arlinda Locklear – first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court and is an expert in Native American law and tribal recognition litigation
Belva Ann Lockwood – first woman member of the US Supreme Court Bar (admitted 1879), first woman to have her name printed on an official ballot for president
Charlotte E. Ray – first African American woman lawyer (1872) in DC
Clara Foltz – first female lawyer on the Pacific Coast
Elena Kagan – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
Florence Ellinwood Allen – first female federal appellate court judge in the country (1934)
Gloria Allred – prominent women’s rights lawyer
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw – Lawyer and Civil Rights Advocate who coined the term “intersectionality”
Lucy Terry Prince – first African American woman to argue a case in front of a US Supreme Court justice
Lutie Lytle – first American woman to teach law in a chartered law school, first black woman to be admitted to the Kansas and Tennessee bars
Lyda Burton Conley – first Native American woman lawyer
Mabel Walker Willebrandt – appointed the first female assistant attorney general of the US by President William G. Harding
Margaret Brent – first recorded woman to practice law in the US
Michelle Obama – former first lady, Lawyer
Myra Bradwell – one of America’s first women lawyers
Ramona Romero – Current General Counsel of Princeton University, former General Counsel of USDA
Ruth Bader Ginsburg – US Supreme Court Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor – former Associate justice on the Supreme Court, first woman to serve in this capacity
Sonia Sotomayor – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, first Hispanic and Latinx Justice