"Conservative feminism" is not a thing. The patriarchy has learned to speak the language of empowerment. It borrows feminist words—“choice,” “agency,” “strength”—but drains them of their meaning, using them to defend inequality.
Ms. Magazine
When the Headline Gets It Wrong: Feminism Isn’t the Problem—Patriarchy Is
When I saw the headline “Did Women Ruin the Workplace? And if So, Can Conservative Feminism Fix It?” in The New York Times, my heart sank.
In 2024, the US female-to-male earnings ratio was 80.9%. For union workers, it was 87.1%. Women in unions have stronger employer-sponsored benefits, are more likely to have a pension or retirement plan, and to receive health insurance from their employer.
AFSCME
Unions are the best defense against the gender wage gap
Over the past two years, the gender pay gap has been widening — except for women workers who belong to unions.
NYT: Did women ruin the workplace? "A toxic workplace does not become toxic when the issue is vocalized; it was already toxic. The question desires to blame women for 'creating' the idea of toxic workplaces when these spaces were already ruined."
Vanity Fair
Women of Vanity Fair Consider: Wait, Did We Ruin the Workplace?
Today, The New York Times published a conversation between the conservative columnist Ross Douthat and two writers about just how bad ladies have s...
Today the economy is strong but >455K women have left the workforce since Jan, pushed out by return-to-office, public-sector layoffs, increasing childcare costs+gender pay gap+burden of unpaid eldercare. This isn’t a market failure; it’s a man-made crisis. https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5591318-shecession-womens-economic-decline/
50 yrs ago, 90% of women in Iceland went on strike. No cooking, cleaning, laundry, or childcare. Schools closed. Flights grounded. Men stayed home or took kids to work. Today Iceland has smallest gender pay gap in the world & tough equal pay laws.
The Persistent
50 Years Ago, Iceland's Women Went on Strike. It Changed Everything.
They stopped cleaning and cooking; they stopped doing laundry and they stopped looking after their children. They’d had enough.
RTO is a glass ceiling in disguise. Turnover for women under RTO policies is 3x higher than for men. Mothers of young children are hardest hit; labor force participation dropping 2.8 points. Flexibility shouldn’t be a perk—it’s a retention strategy. https://www.forbes.com/sites/juliakorn/2025/10/16/return-to-office-mandates-are-the-new-glass-ceiling/
This is how male gatekeeping works. Certain women are allowed into leadership, but only to the extent that they support the men in charge. "[The R men] try to marginalize the strong Republican women that actually want to do something." https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/14/marjorie-taylor-greene-interview-shutdown-aca-epstein-mike-johnson/
212,000 women left the work force between Jan and Aug 2025, while 44,000 men entered. The US govt is unconcerned, seeing men's employment as essential, but women’s employment as a nice to have, their job loss not constituting a serious obstacle.
Opinion | American Women Are Leaving the Work Force. Why?
With the gutting of a federal agency, the Trump administration is asserting their view of women’s place in society.
Studies find medical AI tools powered by LLMs have a tendency to not reflect severity of symptoms for women patients & display less "empathy" toward Black and Asian patients. Many Drs are using LLMs & note taking apps to generate transcripts & summaries.
Client Challenge
There isn't a single college major where women (who outnumber men in college) earn more than men. Examples: Social Work: 9.5% Nursing: 14.6% Elementary Ed 16.0% Comp Sci: 20.4% Sociology: 20.7% Business: 26.0% Engineering: 26.3% Criminal Justice: 27.1% https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2025/09/16/surprising-data-on-college-majors-poverty-rates-and-gender-pay-gaps/