#POLITICS
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.”
