Her passion lies in visually conveying the grandeur of ordinary women. Born and reared in Detroit, Joan Roth came to New York in 1962. During the early years of the women’s movement, she was part of several important consciousness-raising groups in East Hampton, New York, and in New York City, and started other groups across the country. Roth has photographed the women's movement since the early days. She photographed the UN International Conferences on Women in Nairobi and Beijing, and in 1994, she began documenting Veteran Feminists events. Roth traveled worldwide to publish Jewish Women: A World of Tradition and Change, the first book about Jewish women - including in cultures such as Ethiopia, India, and Yemen - by a Jewish woman photographer. She also photographed women in Baltimore and Seattle for the Jewish Women’s Archive’s oral history project, Weaving Women’s Words.