Fourth-wave feminism, a feminist movement which began in the early 2010s, focuses on womens empowerment, challenging gender roles, sexual harassment, body shaming and gender equality.

According to History.com, the first wave of feminism focused on women’s suffrage rights, the second on deconstructing traditional womanly roles like wife and mother, and the third on sexual harassment in the workplace and a lack of women in positions of power. However, these previous waves of feminism faced the issue of centering too much on privileged white women.

Now, unlike previous generations, fourth-wave feminism brings in the voices of women of color, trans women, and nonbinary people as a culmination of previous movements. It utilizes social media to spread awareness and gain support, with new feminist TV shows, movies, songs and podcasts painting a new story about women.

Despite its prevalence, not many Americans consider themselves strictly feminist. According to the Survey Center on American Life, 35% of Americans consider themselves somewhat feminist and 33% consider themselves not feminist at all. Forty-two percent of women say the term feminist describes them very well or somewhat while 27% of men say the same. The gender gap is more pronounced through ages 18 to 29, with women making up 55% and men only 31%.

Lisa Knox, recording secretary of the Palo Alto Women’s Club, said feminists’ goals used to be more about gaining basic human rights.

“It was during our lifetime that women were not allowed to get a credit card without their husbands co-signing permission,” Knox said. “Even our generation takes that for granted because we were children and didn’t really even know. I don’t think we’ve gotten there yet. We were busy trying to get women to just even get hired for traditionally male jobs.”

Sophomore Alana Chun, co-president of the Women’s Representation in Media club, said women and girls often lack female role models in the media, but with fourth-wave feminism and its prevalent online presence, more and more girls can see those roles filled.

“Some of the biggest challenges women face with representation in the media are seeing how the women are represented now and feeling like they have to act a certain way to fit into what the stereotypes that are portrayed in the media,” Chun said. “It’s hard for girls to really feel comfortable in their own skin, if they see people in the media they may not relate to and that don’t represent them as a person.”

However, Chun said the media is improving the diverse roles given to women.

“When I was younger, a lot of the shows and movies were all about girls getting saved by a prince or by a man, and I think it’s nice for girls to be able to see a strong female character who can work on her own and take care of herself on her own,” Chun said.

Junior Maya Mohan, president of the Women in Data Science club, said she has noticed a change in women’s representation in children’s animated films, adding feminist undertones to media that can influence children in positive ways.

“In past children’s movies, Disney Princesses always had a Disney prince to accompany them whereas Moana, for example, is (one of) the first Disney princesses who doesn’t have a male love interest,” Mohan said. “Especially for younger children, being able to see that a princess can be very dainty and have a prince in her castle and go fight monsters across the sea is really nice to see.”

Fourth-wave feminism isn’t just benefiting women by giving them role models in the media, it’s also opening the stage for men to be open about their experiences.

In a 2003 study by Gross and John, they found males scored significantly higher than females on the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and this study was later confirmed by another in 2009 by Haga et al.

AP English Language and Composition teacher Alanna Williamson said movies and TV shows promoting feminist values can benefit men as well.

“I think that (feminism is) dismantling the patriarchy, but that’s for men too,” Williamson said. “That’s why Barbie was so powerful — because men are impacted also. Men should really care about how the patriarchy impacts them and doesn’t allow them to feel feelings or have male friendships that are really close.”

However, senior Amani Fossati-Moiane said he has seen how feminism can sometimes be misunderstood or interpreted negatively.

“I think the whole concept of feminism is to be inclusive, but there are cases where feminism can be aggressive,” Fossati-Moiane said. “Sometimes, people might use feminism to justify a cultural double standard in (everyday interactions).”

With the rise of social media, Katelyn Kramer, the vice president of Outreach for Stanford Society of Women Engineers, said online platforms can help support women.

“A lot of my social media is very positive regarding feminism, empowering women and seeing women in male-dominated fields — maybe not always being treated equally or having full equality achieved, but at least getting to these points,” Kramer said. “I think that’s taken as positive a lot in the media, but in the real world, it’s not always taken positively. There’s still people fighting for real equality, like getting the same pay.”

According to the Pew Research Center, 28% of teen girls say social media makes them feel worse about their own life, compared to just 18% of teen boys.

Additionally, Chun said social media can promote unrealistic standards for women and girls.

“Sometimes looking at social media can make you feel bad about yourself, like it’s not normal for a girl to be interested in computer science, and you only see videos of girls going shopping,” Chun said.

However, Naomi Lilly, director of storytelling and marketing for Girls for Gender Equity NYC, said women having positions of power does not address the larger systemic issues such as women’s safety from sexual violence, healthcare disparities and cultural attitudes towards women.

“It’s still not enough when you’re still facing larger systems that don’t agree that you deserve those rights,” Lilly said. “Having that one vote doesn’t necessarily create the change that we need, which is why I think the community organizers that look like us, that care about us, that aren’t facing the larger systemic obstacles, are important.”

And community organizers can come in the form of those who have power in the hierarchical system already. Williamson said those with privilege should strive to uplift minorities.

“I hope that anyone in a position of power, where you’re not (a) marginalized person, can check your own privilege and be willing to be uncomfortable with how you might be contributing to a system that isn’t what you want to be contributing to — not because you’re a bad person, but just because there’s systems in place that do that,” Williamson said.

The power of the feminist movement can also be found in politics, but it remains increasingly hard to pass bills that help women with the increasing polarization of the political sphere.

According to The Associated Press, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign targeted men through the country’s economy, culture and political system. This resulted in a gender divide in the election, with young female voters being 12% more likely to support Harris than young male voters. Furthermore, only 42% of voters say a female president would be a crucial milestone in history.

Mirroring the political polarization seen throughout the country, Williamson said feminist sentiment has grown more divided.

“There’s a lot of anti-feminist stuff that gets brought up  — whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice, the arguments about it tend to be really demeaning towards women, so that sucks,” Williamson said. “And as a teacher, in more recent years, my (female) students have been promoting feminism more, while a lot of my male students have reverted and have gotten less feminist.”

Williamson said Gen Z is becoming more and more conservative.

“A huge amount of the people who voted for Donald Trump ended up being from Gen Z, which was really surprising to a lot of people because we thought Gen Z was very progressive,” Williamson said. “The younger generation seems like it’s getting pretty intensely conservative with white male younger voters. And I think that is a direct result of the ease of access to those opinions in a way that they didn’t have before. And I think also seeing things online can be (like) a vacuum, so you’re only seeing one lens.”

Senior Declan Baker said young men may not realize who their vote is affecting.

“Specifically in this year’s (presidential) election, I saw a lot of men and boys my age vote for Trump, and some of them were even celebrating Trump winning against women in two separate elections,” Baker said. “It’s sad and scary to see so many young men, who have been raised by strong, independent mothers, not recognize that and (reject) feminism.”

Lilly also said she believes the fight for equality would have still been a battle regardless of election outcome.

“Women’s rights are under attack — they’ve always been under attack,” Lilly said. “I don’t necessarily know if the loss or a win would have changed that completely. I think it’s a matter of the systems that we’re working against because we’re also looking at a fully Republican senate and a House of Representatives majority, so either way it would’ve been an uphill battle.”

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, STEM college degrees continue to remain male-dominated — from 2011 to 2021, the percentage of STEM bachelor’s degrees held by women only increased from 35.2% to 38.2%.

Chun said providing role models for young girls has a huge impact on their future aspirations, especially in male-dominated fields like STEM.

“A major success of this movement has been providing role models for young girls that can inspire them, help them realize that they can do whatever they want in life and that they’re as good as all their boy peers,” Chun said. “From a young age, I wanted to be a lawyer, a doctor, an astronaut, and before our time and generation, that wasn’t really something that was as common. When (my mom) was younger, girls were expected to (take) on the role as a stay-at-home mom, and that’s great if you want to do that, but I was raised knowing I can keep working.”

And on campus, senior Samhita Konduri, co-president of the Girls Who Code club, said there are more male students in many STEM clubs at Paly.

“Even in Palo Alto, there’s still kind of a lack of equal representation in our STEM clubs at school,” Konduri said. “It’s more of just feeling out of place in the more general STEM clubs at school because if no one’s saying anything, you still kind of feel like another person, kind of separate from the rest of the people in the clubs.”

Konduri said this feeling inspired her to start Girls Who Code, where she could relate more to her peers and feel more included and comfortable.

“I have a lot more fun with STEM and technology and coding and everything because of Girls Who Code,” Konduri said. “There’s kind of a feeling that we all deserve to pursue this, and no one’s doubting each other there, so you just feel a lot more encouraged. Like, ‘Yeah, I can do this. I can keep going on this path.”

While pushing for inclusivity, Kramer said she has noticed inherent biases against girls in STEM-related fields.

“I’ve had experiences where teachers in my engineering classes have an inherent bias and say things like, ‘Oh, you’re a woman in engineering,’ and notice that there’s a difference about that, usually with a negative connotation,” Kramer said. “It’s so implemented in society because when someone says ‘doctor,’ the first thing you think of is a guy, and so it’s how society has raised us and shaped our views.”

According to the US Department of Labor, women working full-time, on average, are only paid 84% of what men are paid. Kramer said this inherent bias can lead to pay gaps and other inequities in the workplace.

“Sometimes women can just be seen as inferior and can be given different tasks according to that, like a less complicated or less essential task,” Kramer said. “Or, if you make a mistake, you could be weighed more heavily or blamed because of your gender.”

At Paly, however, Williamson said women have fairly equal opportunities for pursuing leadership roles.

“We’ve had female principals,” Williamson said. “Two of our (assistant principals) are women of color, and a lot of our instructional leads are also women, which is great. It’s also easier in our line of work because our salaries are just based on years of experience. So it makes it extremely equal.”

Similarly, Mohan said the surge in gender diversity within STEM fields is encouraging.

“Especially in the field of data science, being able to see more girls and women encourages people to join tech and data science and often pursue their passion and look further into a field that’s often assumed to be more male dominated,” Mohan said.

According to the National Organization of Women, Black feminism can be traced back to the 1830s, although it was most prominent in the 1960s and 1970s with the second wave of feminism. White women at the time often neglected Black queer women, so people like Pauli Murray, the co-founder of NOW, worked with others to build a black feminist movement. Ultimately, Murray’s theories on the intersection of race, gender and sexual orientation contribute to today’s modern fourth-wave feminism.

Williamson said earlier waves of feminism often excluded non-white women from their movements, but that sentiment has changed with this new wave.

“I think also now when we think about modern feminism, we’re trying to think about gender equity and trying to involve men as part of the conversation whereas before it was just like, ‘Let’s lift the voices of women,’” Williamson said. “A lot of conversations around and within feminism have often placed it as like women’s fault or responsibility to change things, when a lot of times we need men to be allies.”

Beyond becoming more inclusive to men, Mohan said modern feminism has shifted to encompass the issues of race, class and sexuality.

“Feminism began more as a socio-political movement to achieve gender equality for all females, but it’s now become more of a movement to achieve equality for people of all genders,” Mohan said.

Similarly, Lilly said while feminist movements have always relied on partnerships between women of all races,  fourth-wave feminism in particular emphasizes the intersectionality of women’s identities more clearly than in the past and makes a greater effort to ensure the voices of women of color are heard.

“Women of color have always been the backbone of feminism — their issues have always been front and center of the larger movement itself,” Lilly said.

Some of the issues that women of color have brought to light in the feminist movement include sexual assault. According to the Global Fund for Women, the #MeToo movement, founded in 2006 by Tarana Burke, aims to support survivors of sexual violence, focusing on young women of color from low-income communities. In October 2017, the movement became global as survivors came forward to speak out about their experiences, with #MeToo hashtags trending on social media. Celebrities like America Ferrera, Gabrielle Union, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Lawrence shared their experiences online, bringing more awareness to sexual violence and harrassment against women.

Chun said the #MeToo movement has pushed for more advocacy and awareness against sexual assault and gender discrimination.

“The #MeToo movement has definitely impacted girls in general because it’s helped people be more open about their past and things that have happened to them, and I think that’s also impacted the media as well,” Chun said.

Lilly also said fourth-wave feminism is more than women advocating for their experiences but also redefining what being a woman means.

“What is really important within this movement is recognizing everybody does not fit into one box,” Lilly said. “Especially when you think about trans women as they’ve been locked out of the story — that’s something we prioritize at GGE. That’s one very important place to start — just recognizing how expansive an idea of a woman can be and fully recognizing all people who identify as a woman.”

Lilly also said this movement brings to light various issues, not just women’s rights.

“Intersectionality exists at the point of different parts of your identity converging, and for women of color, that often is our identity — as a person of color but also as a woman,” Lilly said. “You can factor in other parts like our sexual orientation.”

Kramer said her background as a woman combined with coming from a low-income household has presented challenges, but having opportunities at Stanford has helped her find her passion.

“I didn’t see a place like Stanford as an option to go to school, but having this exposure and seeing that no matter where you come from, you can go to college or into STEM, was really important for me,” Kramer said. “Stanford Society of Women Engineers does a great job at that, and we have so many members and a diverse group of women that are all really passionate and willing to help.”

Kramer said youth leaders are instrumental in changing current societal norms about what women should do or be.

“We have all the qualifications, and we just don’t get there because people are biased,” Kramer said. “Being able to overcome that gap and having more women in leadership positions would be something I want to see in the future.

To do this, Lilly said they need to be more involved in organizations and feminist movements.

“Everything we do at GGE is informed by young people, and I think that’s what’s often missing from larger organizations and larger collective movements,” Lilly said. “Recognizing that they are the next generation, and that they are using your leadership as an example for the voices they would like to grow, is a reason that they need to be involved.”

Williamson said success in the feminist movements comes from bringing different groups to work together, not against one another.

“The more that we can lessen us versus them, the better,” Williamson said. “But also recognizing that there are inherent differences in treatment and opportunity. We want to lessen the degree of us versus them, but also you can’t just say, ‘I don’t see (a difference).’ So it’s finding the balance between erasure and inclusivity.”

Lilly said, ultimately, the fourth-wave of feminism only furthers a continuing fight for gender equality and women’s rights.

“The work everyday is something to be worked on, and it’s why organizations like GGE exist to push forth these messages and the hope,” Lilly said. “We are bringing in a new generation of folks who can make that dream become a reality.”