What’s Next For Women?

The last four or five years have been rough going. It’s tempting to think of that time as one of seemingly endlessly awful, catastrophe piled atop catastrophe in some perverse game of Jenga. We’ve gotten used to everything being so fraught and high-stakes, the times themselves almost hostile to human thriving. So it can be easy to miss the good that happened as well. And there was so much good.

It may not seem like it. There was a whirlwind blowing around us, causing chaos and destruction in our culture, our families, and our households. But in the midst of that, a wonderful thing happened: so many people started paying attention, caring about things they may not have cared about before, and fighting for a better future for our country. The last year, for example, has forced us to look squarely at not only our politics but our democracy. Black Lives Matter exploded from a vocal activist group to a major force in American politics, wielding the rancor of the age to bring attention and energy to a problem that’s marred this country since its foundation. The Women’s March, prompted by a long list of accusations against the then newly elected former President, bled into #MeToo, precipitating the downfall of Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer, and the first major public discussion of the threat of sexual violence that women face every single day.