On Women’s Equality Day, is there reason to celebrate?

The last two years have been momentous for women: The rise of the #MeToo movement and its demands for justice against sexual abusers and the creation of Women’s Marches that saw millions worldwide gather in defense of women’s rights are examples of solidarity and empowerment.

Even so, on Women’s Equality Day — which falls on Aug. 26 this year — USC experts note the rise of new threats, from challenges to women’s reproductive rights and continued violence against women, to the ongoing battle for pay equity and equality in the workplace.

Marches and Women’s Equality Day

Lindsay O’Neill, assistant professor (teaching) of history at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, sees comparison between the women in the U.S. 2017 and 2018 Women’s Marches in the U.S. and the suffragettes who marched through the streets of London 100 years earlier.

“These women fought hard for their rights, they chained themselves to the gates of Parliament, were imprisoned and force fed by the government, and some died in the fight,” she said. “Their movements and drastic measures remind me both how far we have come and how far we have to go.”

Michael Messner, USC Dornsife professor of sociology and gender studies, noted that women have made unprecedented gains in recent decades. But, he pointed, out, “the massive women’s marches that followed the election of Donald Trump, the eruption of campus-based antisexual assault activism among students, the #MeToo movement, feminist mobilizations to protect and extend reproductive rights, as well as union women’s leadership in organizing for equity and fairness in workplaces, all illustrate a clear point: It’s not time for a feminist victory lap.”

Women’s Equality Day: a Handmaid’s warnings

The award-winning television adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale reflects women’s worst fears, presenting a chilling vision of a near future in which women have been stripped of their rights by a fundamentalist regime. To Sarah Gualtieri, USC Dornsife associate professor of American studies and ethnicity, history and Middle East studies, it doesn’t seem that far off.

“When I watched the scene in The Handmaid’s Tale where two mothers attempt to flee Gilead’s state of terror with their son and only the ‘biological’ mother is granted exit, it didn’t seem wildly fanciful to me, but an entirely possible outcome if we continue on the present course,” Gualtieri said.

Alison Dundes Renteln, USC Dornsife professor of political science, anthropology and public policy, notes that equality is not distributed equally.

“Although equality benefits everyone, women do not enjoy equality around the world,” she said. “Violence against women takes many forms. Until girls can avoid early marriages and have guaranteed access to education, equality will remain a pipedream.”

An extended version of this story appears on the USC Dornsife website.