Okay look, how social movements drive gender equality is something I keep coming back to lately because honestly? I’m still figuring it out myself and I mess it up sometimes. Like right now I’m in Faridabad but my head is still half in the US because that’s where most of my embarrassing personal stories happened – sitting in this chair with the fan making that annoying click every rotation, scrolling X and seeing another post about women’s marches or pay gap fights and feeling that weird mix of inspired and guilty.
I mean seriously, back when I was living in Philly for a bit in like 2022 or 23, I went to one of those big women’s day things mostly because my roommate dragged me. I stood there holding a sign I didn’t even make (“Equality isn’t a favor” – yeah I borrowed it from someone), feeling super out of place because half the chants I didn’t know the words to and I mumbled them like an idiot. But something stuck. The energy, the anger, the hope all mixed together – that’s literally how social movements drive gender equality. Not clean, not perfect, just persistent and loud.
How Social Movements Drive Gender Equality – Looking Back (and Cringing at Myself)
History is full of it. Suffrage ladies chaining themselves to fences, hunger strikes, getting force-fed – brutal stuff. I only really started reading about it properly when I was procrastinating on rent payments during covid and stumbled on some PBS documentary. Before that I was the guy who thought “well women can vote now so we’re done right?” God I’m embarrassed typing that. But those early movements forced the conversation, made laws catch up, even if they were messy and racist in parts which is important to say out loud.
Then second wave, third wave, all that – reproductive rights, workplace stuff, calling out harassment. Movements don’t move in straight lines. They stumble, they exclude people sometimes, they fight internally. I remember arguing with a friend in a bar about whether #MeToo went “too far” and I said something stupid like “some accusations are exaggerated” – cringe level 1000. She just looked at me and said “that’s the point, you’re scared of accountability.” Took me months to process that one. How social movements drive gender equality includes making people like past-me uncomfortable enough to change.
The Now Part – How Social Movements Drive Gender Equality in 2026 (Still Chaotic)
Fast forward to today and it’s still happening. Abortion access fights after Roe, trans rights getting attacked, equal pay still not equal, all of it. I follow a bunch of activists on X now and sometimes I just lurk because I don’t know what to add without sounding performative. Last month there was this viral thread about how gig economy women are still getting screwed on safety and pay – domestic workers, delivery people, content creators. I sent it to three friends with “this is messed up” and felt like that was something? But it’s small.
The beautiful messy thing is how these movements connect now. Climate justice folks talking about how women in the global south are hit hardest, disability activists pointing out how gender norms screw over disabled women differently, racial justice groups showing the data on Black and Brown women getting paid less. Intersectional isn’t just a buzzword – it’s how social movements drive gender equality more powerfully when they actually listen to each other. But yeah I still catch myself slipping. I’ll read something about toxic masculinity and think “not all men” in my head before I can stop it. Old habits die hard. That’s the human part.
- Things I’ve actually done (small and imperfect):
- Donated to a local women’s shelter twice this year (forgot the third time, oops)
- Called out a sexist joke at work and then second-guessed myself for two days
- Shared three posts about equal pay without adding my own comment because I was scared of saying the wrong thing
Where I Get Stuck (and Where Hope Sneaks In)
The backlash is real. Every time there’s progress there’s a pushback – laws rolled back, online harassment, people saying feminism is “dividing” society. I see it on family WhatsApp groups sometimes and just… log off. But then I remember that every big change looked divisive at the time. Voting rights for women was “radical.” Equal pay was “anti-family.” How social movements drive gender equality often means pissing people off first.
Anyway I’m rambling now. Point is, social movements drive gender equality because normal flawed humans like me eventually get pulled in, make mistakes, learn a little, show up again (or at least try). It’s not glamorous. It’s sweaty, awkward, inconsistent, sometimes embarrassing.
