As fourth-wave feminism was reaching something of a peak in the 2010s, it seemed you couldn't go a day without seeing a rousing feminist essay online, monologue in a TV show or fashion statement.
When Beyoncé — arguably the biggest pop star in the world at the time — appeared on stage at the Video Music Awards (VMA) in front of the word FEMINIST in 2014, commentators described it as a watershed cultural moment.
But it's hard to imagine someone of her status doing something like that today.
Feminist researchers and commentators tell SBS News this is because feminism seems to have dipped out of the pop culture spotlight, with social commentators questioning whether rhetoric proffered by the likes of Beyoncé — who sang about waking up "flawless" at the VMAs — has achieved much for gender equality.
Beyoncé, one of the biggest pop stars in the world in the 2010s, made feminism part of her identity. Source: Getty / Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
Market research firm Ipsos polling released this week shows that on average, Australians have become less supportive of feminism.
When presented with the statement — 'When it comes to giving women equal rights with men, things have gone far enough in my country' — 43 per cent of Australians agreed — 51 per cent of men and 35 per cent of women.
In 2019, only 31 per cent of Australians agreed with this statement.
Based on a global average of 31 countries, 53 per cent of people agreed with this statement, up from 42 per cent in 2019.
When asked whether "things have gone far enough in my country regarding giving women equal rights with men," 43 per cent of Australians agreed — 51 per cent of men and 35 per cent of women, according to an Ipsos survey. Source: SBS News
"Anytime there's some kind of gain, people in dominant groups experience that as a loss for them. So then they portray it as a loss or a wound or harm instead of opening up the space and trying to live a bit more according to a different ethic."
Kanai says the global political climate, in which Donald Trump is the president of the United States, and far-right groups have made political gains, and other parts of Europe, could make it harder for people to identify publicly as feminists.
"If you feel that you are threatened with violence for expressing a particular perspective — and far-right rhetoric is violent and threatens physical violence — this does have the effect of people having to withdraw," she says.
"But I think this very backlash shows that it's really desperately needed."
At least 60 per cent of gen Z men and 40 per cent of gen Z women believe that promoting women's equality has gone so far that it is now discriminating against men, according to an Ipsos survey. Source: SBS News
Has feminism achieved its goals?
Along with potential repercussions, Kanai says some people have become less active in the feminist movement because they're "taking a breath" and doing a necessary "stock-take".
"The emergence of #MeToo was something that was very sort of celebrity-led and brought to the foreground issues of abuse, harassment and unequal power," she says.
"I think following that, there's still a kind of questioning of what to do with that because we're recognising that these are systemic issues and have been going for so long that how do we actually move forward and create better spaces — spaces for everyone."
Akane Kanai is a researcher studying young people's views on feminism. Source: Supplied
Australian author and critic Jessie Tu writes non-fiction works and novels that touch on the intersecting issues of gender, race and power.
Tu says she feels "more furious than ever", acknowledging the rage that has long-fuelled the feminist movement is alive and well, but says it's a problem that some mainstream feminist authors' ideas have aged badly and haven't delivered "real policy change".
She points to former Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg's 2013 book Lean In, which sold millions of copies worldwide and meted out advice for corporate women wanting to get ahead.
"That kind of feminism didn't bring real investment from men. It lacked a lot of insight on material things," Tu says.
What I want feminism to do is result in policy changes, close the gender pay gap, raise minimum wage and make sure that domestic caregivers are being paid — basic stuff like that.
In Australia, only one in five employers has an average gender pay gap within the target range, released this week.
For every $1 a man earns, women earn on average 78 cents, adding to a yearly difference of $28,425, according to the report.
Tu says feminism is more important than ever because "we haven't solved any of those [material] issues".
Australian author and critic Jessie Tu once said she would probably never read another book by a man, as she challenges the centring of the male experience in the literary world. Source: Instagram
She says one thing that makes her hopeful thinking about the future of the world is women who are "doing the footwork".
"There's still people volunteering for domestic violence shelters and the women who are working in abortion shelters in America, women who are helping rehouse refugees in the Middle East, all these things."
The issue of 'white feminism'
Historically, mainstream feminism has been accused of failing to include women of colour, which remains one of the reasons it hasn't gained traction in some communities.
The concept of 'white feminism' entered feminist discourse in the 1980s as a criticism of a kind of feminism that centres and universalises white experiences, ignoring the unique and intersecting struggles of other minorities.
Brenda Gaddi is the founder of Women of Colour Australia (WoCA), a non-profit organisation and charity she started after moving from the Philippines to Australia, with the aim of giving a platform for women of colour.
She says feminism is in need of a "transformation" because white feminism has unfortunately become common and doesn't serve to further advance all women.
Brenda Gaddi is the founder and executive director of non-profit Women of Colour Australia. Source: Supplied
"But I'm talking about having an understanding that whatever happens to you affects me fundamentally, and whatever happens to me affects you fundamentally."
She says going forward, feminists need to question their intentions and critically think about their role in "perpetuating the system that's harming mostly people of colour; historically marginalised and racialised women".
"Really, the question that we should be asking is, 'Why is there an overrepresentation of white women in feminist spaces and places?'"
She says the Black Lives Matter movement, which started in 2020, helped to raise Australians' consciousness about issues of racism, but it came at the expense of Black American man George Floyd's life.
We can talk about racism now — not that mature evolved level that I would want, but at least we can say it. We can verbalise it.
According to a 2024 WoCA survey of over 1,000 women of colour in Australia, two-thirds experienced discrimination in the workplace — an increase WoCA attributes to people being more empowered to identify discrimination.
Do young people care about feminism?
Ipsos's polling shows that globally, 60 per cent of gen Z men agree with the statement "we have gone so far in promoting women's equality that we are discriminating against men", while 40 per cent of gen Z women agree.
Among baby boomers — the oldest generation surveyed — only 43 per cent of men agree and 30 per cent of women.
Among Australians surveyed, 46 per cent agreed with this statement, though the data wasn't available by age or gender.
Danny Cash is a 19-year-old student and writer on gen Z issues and says he was raised as a feminist.
But he has concerns about the views on women he has observed coming from some of his male peers and cites the popularity of messages from as a contributing factor.
"Things are not going well. Young men need to be on board and part of the movement if things are going to get better because, at the moment, so many of them aren't," he says.
"I think lots feel alienated, some feel persecuted or threatened as if they have something to lose from the better and more equal treatment of women, which is silly, but that's something that's happening."
Danny Cash is a student and writer on gen Z issues. Source: Supplied
"Donald Trump came into office when I was 11, and this is someone who, speaking objectively, has a pretty poor track record of saying horrible things about women," he says.
We've been exposed to a culture which has been part of what's enabling young men to get away with saying or thinking offensive things.
Cash says without greater regulation of social media, it will be hard to bridge.
"Algorithms prioritise the inflammatory and the incendiary," he says.
"We can now go onto our phones and readily see these messages of 'You are misunderstood, you are actually the strongest, the smartest, but it's society that's against you. You're an outcast, but no one's believing in you, but I believe in you'."
He says the messages are "very powerful stuff" to insecure young people.
Tritian Young-Glasson is studying cybernetics, which is the study of systems of control and communication between technology, people and the environment.
The 22-year-old says she wouldn't use the label feminist, but understands that it's useful for starting conversations about equality.
Tritian Young-Glasson is a cybernetics student and involved in work platforming women in STEM. Source: Supplied
"It becomes this identity and that it's this way to label yourself when really I feel ultimately what we're striving for is … [asking] 'Do you as a fellow human being want to feel safe at home and outside and in any part of the world where you go?' and they say 'yes', I would say, 'well, great, then we're having the same conversation'."
She says feminism is an important lens through which to understand problems in the digital space, where women are constantly harassed.
"We've got a new arena where these really horrible behaviours are playing out that need to be talked about and need to be addressed," she says.
"We're also seeing AI technologies, meta worlds and automated systems are being fed data, that is going into feeding and training these machine learning models, that don't have access to the right data on the female experience."
Young-Glasson says so many people her age "feel really disempowered" and that the social problems they have are insurmountable.
I think it's really important, though, to understand that that's not true.
