Who Runs The World? GIRLS!

As we enter the month of March, and we recognize our Women of Excellence this issue, I had to take the time to think about the women in my life that have made the biggest impact throughout my time on this earth.

I had to come to the realization that some of the most important people in my life are indeed women. Whether it’s direct family members, or my very close friends. Women have been the consistent underlying influence on my life. For the month of March, I too, would like to say my “woman of excellence” is and will always be my own mother.

I had to really think about this topic when my editor put this month’s assignment in my lap. Who really runs the world, and who has run the world since the beginning of time? Girls. Women. And the power they’ve shown over the years has been nothing but astonishing. From Black Lives Matter (an organization brought together by three black women) to the #MeToo Movement (another organization brought about by women) – and actually most of the fights for equal rights and equality, all have been started by women, or women have played the biggest parts in furthering each movement throughout history. Women have fought on the side of good for a very long time and shown on many occasions how excellent they are. Look, the Vice President of the United States of America currently is a woman. There’s no limit to how excellent a woman could be and will be. Most men can say they’d be half the person they are, without a woman. Girls (women) really do run the world.

I didn’t have to dig far or look too hard to find a bunch of great books written on excellent women in history, or books written about women that are heroines, warriors, space captains, magicians, or the protagonist in some great series. Here are a few books I’d like to mention outside of the normal ones that can shed more light on the excellent things being

Nourishing Bites/Andrea Reed

done by girls and women:

Black Women Will Save the World: An Anthem by April Ryan

Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That A Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris

WOMAN: The American History of an Idea by Lillian Faderman

OWN IT: Oprah Winfrey In Her Own Words (In Their Own Words) by Anjali Becker & Jeanne Engelmann

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly

There are so many books to choose from that I had to stop myself from writing down 20 more, or I would’ve taken up half the magazine trying to recommend which book everyone should want to read. I love that March’s issue acknowledges so many great women in the Harrisburg area. More women need to be shouted out throughout the year, and I’m sure Harrisburg Magazine will continue to be on the frontline of giving various women in the area their flowers.

Stefan Hawkins was born and raised in Harrisburg. He opened Good Brotha’s Book Cafe in January 2021 and has been leading a Good Brotha’s Can’t Read Book Club since last summer.