This is the new wave of feminism. It may only be a few drops of support every so often, but the ocean wasn’t made in a day.

In 2024, women can’t go on social media and say one bad thing about men because the ideal response is “Well not all men.” No. But 97% of women. 97% of women get assaulted at least once in their lives.

There are very few laws protecting women. Very few laws protect us from domestic abuse and sexual abuse. However, there are more people supporting women. More people are saying that the government needs to give more freedom to women. More people are saying to close the pay gap for genders.

There is exactly one federal law protecting women from abuse, according to hud.gov, but there are also specific “statutes” in states that criminalize domestic abuse.

In the last three years, instead of going forward with women’s rights, we have been going backward – generations of progress, are gone. When women get assaulted, it’s always “What were you wearing?” or “Why didn’t you say no?” It’s never “Are you okay?” or “They had no right doing that to you.” In 2020, the Roe v Wade case was overturned, outlawing abortion – one of the very few things women have control over, gone. Taken away from them by men without medical degrees, but apparently who knows what is “best” for women? News flash! They don’t.

Since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, women have fought for the same rights as their male counterparts. In the early years of the 1900s, women had decided they had enough of not having a voice in the government. They were tortured, abused, and starved on May 14th, 1918. Dubbed “The Night of Terror,” women continued fighting until the fateful day in 1920 when they got the right to vote.

In the 1940s, Rosie the Riveter’s iconic pose and slogan appeared almost everywhere – especially in factories that were beneficial to the wartime efforts. Without the help of women, WWII would’ve been lost. After the male soldiers returned home, women were expected to go back to their “traditional” roles – as housewives and mothers.

It was bittersweet for women – they just helped win the war, and this was their “thank you”? There was a way women were expected to act. According to the Eisenhower presidential library, “The ideal suburban housewife who cared for the home and children.” Not going to work, not going to school to finish out their education. No – they were expected to be mothers.

The 1950s truly began the Feminist Revolution. And now, in 2023, it seems as though the issues of women are a bigger debate than a decade ago. 

There are usually ripples of change – but the new feminist revolution is a tsunami.