Life
The year is 2019, and so much has changed in the last decade or two. So much, in fact, that your own children are going to have such a different experience of the world and finding their place within it than you did. For example, kids have grown up with posters of celebrities plastered to their bedroom walls for years — and let's not be mistaken, there's certainly nothing wrong with that — but today's lucky youth get to look up to a whole host of women who are making history right now.
Whether they're dominating politics, education or social reform, there are so many women who are showing our kids that they can truly be anything they want. These women are challenging the status quo and gearing up to become household names. Sure, the first female Democratic candidate for President ran almost three years ago, but there are now a record-breaking number of women running for the position again in 2020, according to The New York Times. The fact is that times are changing, women are stepping up, and it's truly quite a time to be alive.
The women below are innovators, thinkers, icons and culture-changers. They are the type of people whose portraits should be framed in our children's bedrooms, serving as a constant reminder of how unlimited their potential can be.
1
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
At the end of 2018 midterms, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest female congressperson elected to office, CNN reported. She also ran the first successful completely people-funded campaign. She arrived in Washington this year set on making serious reform in everything from the environment to medical care. On top of that, she has a pretty killer Twitter feed.
2
Tarana Burke
Over the past decade, Tarana Burke has been working on the #MeToo movement, which gained massive cultural attention in the last couple of years alone. With publicity from actress Alyssa Milano, Burke's concept of survivors sharing stories has taken off like wildfire, becoming a household-recognizable phrase, The New York Times reports. As a social justice activist, Burke has blown the lid off a phenomena that most women felt compelled to remain silent about, and has started a movement that is truly changing the world of sex, sexuality, pursuing, courting, speech, language, harassment and respect.
3
Emma Gonzalez
Gonzalez is a survivor of the February 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 were killed, NBC News reported. In the wake of the incident, Gonzalez has become an activist for gun reform, traveling the country to speak and advocate for fair and reasonable restrictions on gun sales and ownership that will ensure school shootings never happen again.
4
Ilhan Omar
Omar is the first Muslim-American women to be elected into congress as of late 2018, CNN reported. Omar is most concerned with issues pertaining to "parental leave, environmental sustainability, fair electoral practices, social and religious equality," OurRevolution.org reported.
5
Gigi Gorgeous
With millions of followers on YouTube, Gigi Gorgeous is an activist for transgender awareness and rights. After coming out herself and undergoing her transition publicly, Gigi details what her life is like as a transgender woman, and was one of the first and most notable public figures to do so, prior names such as Caitlyn Jenner following suit. Gigi talks about everything from marriage to becoming a parent, People reported, and has been an incredible role model for anyone who is in the LGBTQ+ community.
6
Alison Bechdel
Bechdel created the popular "Bechdel Test," which aims to judge how feminist a movie is by the following criteria: "It has 1) has at least two women in it 2) these women talk to each other 3) they talk about something besides a man," Broadly reported. Bechdel is a cartoonist, and a social rights activist.
7
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Sure, the notorious RBG has been a world-changing icon for many, many decades, but she's gotten even more attention over the last few years, including movies made about her life. Town & Country reports that Ginsburg is one of the longest-sitting Justices to ever sit on the Supreme Court, and was the second women ever to receive the position in the first place.
