This year, instead of giving them more clothes or princess dresses (which my mom gave them last year), I asked my mom if we could get them books that showcase stories about successful women.
Having them read about ambitious, driven women who succeed in all different fields is so important to start when they are young. Because they are both interested in science and love to play sports, we ended up getting them books called "Women in Sports," and "Women in Science," which include one page bedtime stories that cover all different successful women in those fields.
After findings these books, I then researched if there was a "Women in Politics," children's book. And unfortunately, there wasn't one (at least by the same author, Rachel Ignotofsky). While there are some children's books that cover women's activism in politics, when I researched the topic, it was clear that there wasn't an equal emphasis on the importance of this issue.
While it's important to showcase to young women that there have been successful women in all fields, it's interesting to me that when it comes to politics, there's a much weaker urgency to get those messages out there. The reason for this reality beats me, but it was something that really struck me. I think it's time for a "Women in Politics," children's book. Maybe I'll write to Rachel Ignotofsky and ask why books on women in sports and science came first.
I think that is great that you gave your cousins books that showcased success stories of women. I would be interested to hear what your cousins thought of the stories. I agree that there is need for a Women in Politics book. The only reason I can think of as to why there is not this type of book already is that maybe creating a Women in Politics book would be tougher (but not impossible) to make understandable to young kids.
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