Gender Equality Week 2025 takes place from September 21 to 27, offering Canadians an opportunity to celebrate progress in gender equity while reflecting on the barriers that remain. Since being established by the Gender Equality Week Act in 2018, this observance has encouraged dialogue, action, and commitment to creating communities where everyone can thrive.
Books often spark the most meaningful conversations—and ORL libraries are the perfect place to begin. To mark Gender Equality Week, we’ve put together a reading list that explores feminism, identity, data bias, and the lived experiences of women and gender-diverse people.
Reading for Gender Equality
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A powerful and personal essay adapted from Adichie’s TEDx talk, this book defines feminism for the 21st century with clarity, inclusion, and urgency, drawing on lived experience and cultural critique.
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
With humour and sharp insight, Gay blends personal stories and cultural criticism to reflect on modern feminism, identity, and the ways culture shapes us—while acknowledging imperfection and growth.
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Based on lectures delivered at Cambridge in 1928, Woolf’s landmark essay argues that women need financial independence and personal space to write, create, and fully participate in cultural life.
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski
This science-based guide explains why women experience stress and burnout differently, offering practical strategies to break the cycle, reclaim joy, and resist societal pressures that fuel exhaustion.
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
An eye-opening exposé of how systemic gender data gaps shape everything from healthcare to urban planning, and how this “default male” bias harms women in everyday life.
A BC Milestone
Closer to home, British Columbia’s Pay Transparency Act (introduced in 2023) is a step toward narrowing the gender pay gap, which stood at 17% in 2023. By requiring employers to include pay ranges in job postings—and eventually publish annual pay transparency reports—this legislation aims to create fairer workplaces, especially for those who experience overlapping inequities.
Looking Forward
As we celebrate Gender Equality Week, it’s also an invitation to take action: supporting organizations that champion gender rights, engaging men and boys as allies, and amplifying diverse voices. At the ORL, we believe stories are a powerful part of that journey. Please join us.
