Community Engagement & Outreach

The Commission on the Status of Women serves as a central resource in Cambridge for women's issues.

Mapping Feminist Cambridge Tours

This series of historic tours chronicles Cambridge's vital feminist movement from 1970s-1990s. Discover events that shaped history: the takeover of 888 Memorial Drive, the East Coast's first domestic violence shelter, one of America's earliest feminist bookstores, and pioneering women's studies courses.

Each event and organization on a MFC tour highlights the movement's fundamental concerns: reproductive rights, racial justice, female representation in media, support for survivors, visibility for lesbian and bisexual women, political activism, combating poverty, and many more efforts challenging existing power structures.

MFC provides current residents and visitors a crucial connection to this progressive legacy. The feminist infrastructure created during this period fundamentally reshaped Cambridge into the inclusive city it is today. By understanding how local activists created lasting change through grassroots organizing, today's Cambridge community gains not only historical knowledge but also practical models for continued advocacy and community building.

Inman Square Tour
Central Square Tour *
Harvard Square Tour
Youth Guide

Second wave feminism refers to the feminist activity and thought that took root in the late 1960s and continued for approximately two decades primarily in Western democracies. As the women's movement sparked across the United States, Cambridge emerged as a dynamic center of liberation and organizing, rivaling the influence of much larger cities like New York and San Francisco.

Cambridge became ground zero for generative activism that fundamentally reshaped the city's future. From Saundra Graham's bold protest at Harvard University's commencement, to the historic 1971 Bread and Roses March and takeover of 888 Memorial Drive, Cambridge women fought for changes that benefit residents to this day: expanded access to healthcare and childcare, improved racial equity, delayed encroachment of the Riverside neighborhood by Harvard University, condemnation of gender-based violence and shelter for survivors, and numerous other essential rights and services.

To quote Jen Hoyer’s answer to greater civic engagement, MFC brings Cambridge’s feminist history, “out of the archives and into the streets” and allows residents to learn more about how the progressive values and policies they benefit from today were hard-won through the collaborative strength of women leading at the local level.

While MFC research highlights feminist organizing across many perspectives, CCSW acknowledges the movement, despite aspirations toward inclusion, has experienced and continues to experience exclusions across race, class, gender identity, religion, and disability. There are always more stories to discover and include in Cambridge's feminist history

* 3-18-25. The Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women has released a new Mapping Feminist Cambridge story map focused on Central Square from 1970s-1990s. In this guide, we highlight feminist, socialist, and educational institutions that emerged and thrived in Central Square from the late 1960s through the 1990s and recognize the unique contributions they made to Cambridge feminist history.

Film Screenings

As part of our effort to educate, inform, and spark productive dialogue among citizens, the Women’s Commission hosts free film screenings for the public. Screenings are often accompanied by a Q+A session with the Director or include a discussion panel for post-film analysis. Past films include: A Moment in HerStory, The Invisible War, The Supreme Price, The Gray Area, Left on Pearl, and Untouchable. Discussion topics have ranged from the role Cambridge women played in the greater U.S. women’s movement to the role of women in government building in Nigeria.

Cambridge Women's Heritage Project

The Cambridge Women's Heritage Project, an interactive digital archive, represents a groundbreaking effort to rescue local women's stories from historical invisibility. This unique, searchable database—made possible through years of volunteer labor and commitment—provides a critical counternarrative to traditional historical records that have long marginalized women's contributions in Cambridge. All are welcome to nominate a local woman to the database through an accessible portal.

More than just a collection of names, this project is an act of historical recovery. For centuries, women's achievements have been systematically erased or overlooked, their stories reduced to footnotes or entirely omitted from official narratives. The CWHP database serves as a powerful corrective, offering residents and researchers a nuanced, accessible way to explore the multifaceted contributions of local women who have shaped Cambridge's cultural, scientific, artistic, and social landscapes. From educators and activists to scientists and artists, these women's stories are now preserved, searchable, and ready to inspire future generations.

Filament Firmament Exhibit

A collaboration of the Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women, Cambridge Historical Commission, Cambridge Arts Council, and the Cambridge Public Library, Filament/Firmament is a living memorial in the Main Library that honors the contributions of women to the life of the city of Cambridge. As the only public art installation in Cambridge specifically dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating the profound influence and impact women have had on the city's development, F/F stands as a vital cultural landmark that addresses a critical gap in our commemorative landscape.

This pioneering work preserves women's historical contributions and stands as a visible recognition in a public space where their contributions have too often remained invisible.

Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project and Filament/Firmament Media Station

The two-story design of the Filament/Firmament exhibit, complemented by the interactive media station, transforms historical research into an immersive experience. Visitors to the Cambridge Public Library’s main branch can now delve into Cambridge's rich women's history, discovering stories that have long been unknown.

By including the CWHP within the Filament/Firmament exhibit at the Library, both the Historical and Women’s Commissions can showcase the city's first comprehensive platform dedicated to documenting and celebrating local women's impact across generations.