2023 was the hottest year on record. And it wasn’t just a year of extreme weather – the political climate also became more heated, with the far-right gaining traction around the world. In the US, Republicans banned books, censored discussions of gender identity, and tried their best to prosecute any woman who dared to so much think of having an abortion. In Italy, Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government went on a crusade to erode LGBTQ+ rights. In Afghanistan, two years of oppressive Taliban rule have resulted in what some activists are terming ‘gender apartheid.’ From Kabul to Kentucky, it feels like we went backwards in 2023 when it comes to the rights of women and minorities.
While it’s been a bad year politically for women, things have been a little brighter in popular culture. 2023 was a banner year for female sports with events such as the Women’s Six Nations, the Women’s World Cup and the women’s Ashes notching up record viewing figures. It was also a big year for women in film, with Barbie leading the charge: Greta Gerwig’s feminist take on the plastic, anatomically incorrect doll, topped $1bn in global box office ticket sales and spawned approximately 9 million thinkpieces. As one viral tweet noted, we’ve all got a little Barbie in us (the microplastics).
