“We (Kathryn and Jill) believe that Women’s and Gender Studies calls us to: think critically across disciplines and points of view; offer and celebrate more complete stories of history, culture, and identity; affirm a multiplicity of lived experiences and perspectives; and work to further the cause of justice and equity while also reducing oppression and marginalization.” (Fishman-Weaver K. and Clingan J., 2023, pg. 15) 

The book series they had to write.

Women’s and Gender Studies (WGST) is not often taught in the middle and high school classroom. Mizzou Academy faculty and coauthors Dr. Kathryn Fishman-Weaver and Jill Clingan hope to help fill this important gap with a new book series published with Routledge Press.

Clingan says that teaching Women’s and Gender Studies is important in the middle school and high school classroom because “Kathryn and I believe, as bell hooks said, that ‘feminism is for everybody.’ We believe that a safe, inclusive classroom where Women’s and Gender Studies is taught can be a creative laboratory where ideas percolate into positive action. To borrow from Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, we are excited about how WGST is a mirror that reflects scholars’ stories; a window for scholars to look through as they compassionately consider the stories of others, particularly those most affected by gender injustice; and a door for scholars to walk through as they impact change in bringing about gender justice in their local communities and our world.” 

Over the years, Clingan and Fishman-Weaver have collaborated on several projects to expand representation, center women’s voices, and advance inclusion and student leadership. They cite their annual Women’s History Month teaching resources as an important catalyst for this series. 

Fishman-Weaver says that one day she was reviewing the teaching resources she and Clingan had created for previous Women’s History Months. “I put them together in a single document, and it was already well over 50 pages. Jill and I had always viewed these resources as seeds, and as I looked at this document, I thought maybe they could be seeds for a book.” 

After reviewing the literature, the duo could not find any similar resources that offered lesson plans and units for teaching Women’s and Gender Studies in the middle and high school classroom. As the famous American novelist Toni Morison said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

Clingan and Fishman-Weaver pitched the idea to Routledge Press, and their proposal was met with enthusiasm. After signing a book contract, the two tackled the project with gusto. In fact, they found they had so many ideas that the project quickly blossomed from one book to two.

The two-book series was published in November 2022 and includes a book for middle school and another for high school. The two books share common introductory material; however, the middle school book explores topics such as artivism, diversity, and equity while the high school book brings in higher-level concepts including policy analysis, health disparities, and intersectionality.

A Multiplicity of Voices

While Fishman-Weaver and Clingan are proud with how the books came together, they are also quick to share that they didn’t write these books in a vacuum. As Fishman-Weaver says, they are “deeply indebted” to colleagues, families, scholars, editors, and friends who advised and supported this project. 

“From the beginning, we were committed to purposefully including a multiplicity of voices, perspectives, and wisdom,” said Fishman-Weaver, who then explained how the two put together an advisory editor team of five professionals: Dr. Elisa Glick, Dr. Dena Lane-Bonds, Dr. Adrian Clifton, Stefani Domingues, and Lisa DeCastro to formally support the project. 

The advisory editors were “gracious in pointing out our blindspots, suggesting new directions, emailing important additions, sending specific notes and corrections, teaching us a better way, and offering their continued encouragement,” write Fishman-Weaver and Clingan in their acknowledgements section. 

The authors think of this book series as a powerful starting place. “On their own,” they write in the introduction (pgs. 8-9), “these units do not correct for all the missing voices and histories; they do not solve global challenges.… The book you are holding comes to life in what happens off the page, in the discussions, projects, and initiatives of you and your scholars.… May these units be powerful first steps, conceptual catalysts, and inspirational sources that drive your classroom spaces forward to greater inclusion, action, and representation.” 

Teaching Women’s and Gender Studies: Classroom Resources on Resistance, Representation, and Radical Hope (Grades 6-8) and Teaching Women’s and Gender Studies: Classroom Resources on Resistance, Representation, and Radical Hope (Grades 9-12) are both available at Routledge Press and everywhere books are sold.