--- title: 2014: The Best Year for Women Since the Dawn of Time description: But there's a long way to go canonical: https://time.com/3639944/feminism-2014-womens-rights-ray-rice-bill-cosby/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-23T16:59:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:19.672Z og:title: 2014: The Best Year for Women Since the Dawn of Time og:description: But there's a long way to go og:url: https://time.com/3639944/feminism-2014-womens-rights-ray-rice-bill-cosby/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7582090e1ef7bbf/6987770d06f2c13f1f33312d/454281358.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 2014 MTV Video Music Awards - Fixed Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2014: The Best Year for Women Since the Dawn of Time twitter:description: But there's a long way to go twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7582090e1ef7bbf/6987770d06f2c13f1f33312d/454281358.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This May Have Been the Best Year for Women Since the Dawn of Time > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=23fc86c3-581c-431f-beaf-b7c581b51bb7&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 10 Questions for Gloria Steinem [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Gloria Steinem](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zHI7xfDR.m3u8) (5:22)  _Published 2011-08-04. The feminist icon talks about her new HBO documentary, the current state of feminism and why she once considered getting a ‘tramp stamp’ tattoo_  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Dec 23, 2014 4:59 PM UTC  Beyoncé performs onstage at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Aug. 24, 2014 Beyoncé performs onstage at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Aug. 24, 2014 Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Dec 23, 2014 4:59 PM UTC It’s the end of the year, which means ’tis the season for grandiose hyperbole. So let’s go there: since the dinosaurs roamed, since the pyramids were built, since the locomotive was invented, there has never been a better year for women than 2014. That doesn’t mean things were great for all American women in 2014\. Actually, a lot of things really sucked. But “not great, and never been better” is the rallying cry of a movement in progress, and that’s where women have been this year. Think about it. _Frozen,_ a sister-love story, became the highest-grossing [animated film](http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/frozen-becomes-highest-grossing-animated-film-ever-20140331) of all time. While performing songs from her 2013 surprise album, Beyoncé quoted Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s [thoughts on feminism](http://time.com/3181644/beyonce-reclaim-feminism-pop-star/) in front of a live audience at this year’s VMAs. For the first time ever, a woman ([Maryam Mirzakhani](http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/august/fields-medal-mirzakhani-081214.html), a Stanford professor) won the prestigious Fields Medal for Mathematics, widely considered the “Nobel Prize” of math. Janet Yellen became the [first female chair](http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2014/01/06/janet-yellen-confirmed-as-federal-reserve-chair/) of the Federal Reserve; [GM](http://www.gm.com/company/corporate-officers/mary-barra) and [American Apparel](http://fortune.com/2014/12/22/american-apparels-new-ceo-3-things-you-should-know-about-paula-schneider/) both got female CEOS; and Apple and Facebook offered to cover elective [egg freezing](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/perk-facebook-apple-now-pay-women-freeze-eggs-n225011) for their employees. A 17-year-old girl became the youngest person ever to win the [Nobel Peace Prize](http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel%5Fprizes/peace/laureates/2014/press.html). But those are just the victories, and 2014 wasn’t necessarily so important because of all the “firsts” or “bests.” Instead, 2014 was characterized by loud, frustrating, and often unresolved discussions about justice for women that reached an unprecedented volume. We didn’t necessarily “win” any of these battles — and when it comes to debates over sexual assaults, domestic violence and contraceptive coverage, it’s hard to know what “winning” looks like — but we fought them harder and louder than ever before. Take, for example, the ever thorny issue of sexual assault on college campuses. These assaults have been happening for years, rarely acknowledged and barely addressed. But this year, we’ve gone from whispering about sexual assault to shouting about it. In January, President Obama established a White House task force to protect students from sexual assault, and the spearheaded campaigns like [1 Is 2 Many](http://www.whitehouse.gov/1is2many) and [Not Alone](https://www.notalone.gov/) to raise awareness about campus assault. In May, the [Department of Education](http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-releases-list-higher-education-institutions-open-title-i) released a list of universities under investigation for mishandling sexual-assault cases. And in late July, Senators Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) led a bipartisan coalition to introduce the [Campus Safety and Accountability Act](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/us/college-sexual-assault-bill-in-senate.html) to reform the way colleges investigate and punish sexual assaults. And that’s just the government activity. On the ground, students have been staging protests to demand justice (like [Emma Sulkowicz](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/arts/design/in-a-mattress-a-fulcrum-of-art-and-political-protest.html) at Columbia, who is carrying her mattress around with her until her alleged rapist is expelled). Twitter has become an open platform for survivors to speak out about their experiences using hashtags like #YesAllWomen and #RapeCultureIsWhen. The media missteps this year, from _Rolling Stone_’s [UVA debacle](http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/a-rape-on-campus-20141119) to the Washington _Post_ column in which [George Will](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-college-become-the-victims-of-progressivism/2014/06/06/e90e73b4-eb50-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a%5Fstory.html) called rape survival a “coveted status,” have been troubling. But they’ve also sparked larger, louder, online conversations about how we treat sexual-assault survivors than we’ve ever had before. Have we fixed the problem of sexual assault on campus? Definitely not. Are we making progress? More than ever. Or look at domestic violence in the NFL. In 2013, there were seven NFL players arrested for domestic violence, down from nine in 2008, according to [_USA Today_’s Player Arrests database](http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nfl/arrests/) (these are the years with the highest concentration of recorded domestic-violence arrests in the NFL, and this is just the women who call the police). Only four NFL players were arrested in 2014 for beating up their wives or girlfriends, but Ray Rice was one of them. When a video emerged in September that showed Rice punching his then girlfriend Janay Rice in the face, it sparked a massive dialogue about domestic violence and NFL codes of conduct. Ray Rice was suspended indefinitely by the NFL (a suspension that has [since been vacated](http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/28/us/ray-rice-reinstated/) after a successful appeal), and the organization was under so much scrutiny that some were calling for commissioner Roger Goodell to resign. Under increased pressure from feminists and survivors (including some using the hashtag #WhyIStayed), the NFL was forced to finally grapple with a problem it had long tolerated with an uneasy silence. Goodell hired [three female advisers](http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24710845/nfl-hiring-female-advisors-to-shape-domestic-violence-policies) — Lisa Friel (a former sex-crimes prosecutor), Jane Randel (co-founder of No More) and Rita Smith (a former executive director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence) — to help reshape the league’s domestic-violence policy. Since October, the NFL has announced multiple initiatives, including educating players and their families and updating its personal-conduct policy, in order to address domestic violence in the league. And the social-media response has made it clear that the public is not happy with NFL players beating up women and continuing to play. Even players like Eli Manning and Cris Carter have participated in [PSAs ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfto6ZXgt70&list=PLRH4qMDKG2FGC2eG15yehoAUW2zZHDGXt#t=16)to get the public talking about sexual assault. Has the NFL effectively addressed their problem with domestic violence? Hell no. Has there been progress? More than ever. Consider Bill Cosby. People had been whispering about the (formerly) beloved comedian’s habit of drugging and raping women for years — there was even a joke on _30 Rock_ about it [five years](http://time.com/3615987/bill-cosby-sexual-assault-allegations-30-rock/) ago. In 2005, more than 10 anonymous “Jane Doe” victims agreed to testify against Cosby in a [lawsuit that was ultimately settled out of court](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/bill-cosbys-prior-bad-acts), and even after it was reported in the [press](http://www.foxnews.com/story/2005/03/09/civil-lawsuit-filed-against-bill-cosby/), there was little public outrage. But when comedian Hannibal Buress mentioned the rape allegations in a stand-up routine[ this year](http://time.com/3602131/bill-cosby-sexual-assault-allegations-guide/), the public finally took the allegations seriously. More than 16 women have come forward to share remarkably similar stories, and many of them say they were drugged before Cosby assaulted them. Despite the years of whispered rumors, it was only in 2014 that Cosby’s reputation as “America’s Dad” started to tarnish. Do we always take rape victims seriously when they accuse powerful men of assaulting them? Not really. Are we making progress? More than ever. Yes, a lot of things still sucked for women in 2014\. The Supreme Court’s _Hobby Lobby_ ruling was a blow to reproductive rights, we still don’t have a comprehensive family-leave policy, and women are still paid less than men for doing the same work. So 2014 has been a year of setbacks, indignities and outrage. It’s not been great. But it’s better than ever. ## Transcript [00:00] Hi I'm Belinda Laskin. I'm an editor at large at Time [00:02] magazine and I have to admit this week that the person I'm [00:06] interviewing, and this happens in many reporters careers, [00:09] has actually had a material affect on my life, and in fact on [00:13] many working women's lives. But despite that I'm going to [00:17] try not to go too easy on her. Welcome Gloria Steinum. [00:21] So, you have participated for May a documentary of your [00:24] life. Why a documentary about your life, now? Are you [00:28] dying? No, they might think so, though, but, am planning to [00:32] stay here till a 100, at least. [ LAUGH ] What would [00:36] you say to people who feel, today, that the fight for [00:39] women's rights is all over, but shouting. I guess I would [00:43] send them out for an eye exam, a hearing exam. [00:46] [ LAUGH ] In other words, they're wrong. But I, but, [00:48] [ LAUGH ] but I've, I realized that that idea is, is out there [00:53] because it's a way of stopping, progress. So we hear, [00:56] words like post- racist, post- feminist. When [01:01] people I think would not say post democracy, I think people [01:05] would concede at a minimum that we haven't reached [01:09] democracy yet and we certainly haven't reached equality [01:12] of women of all races or racial equality. In [01:17] one of your earliest journalistic coos' you went undercover [01:19] at the Playboy Barney Club to show. What a dreary and [01:23] dead- end and horrible job it was. In the documentary, you [01:27] express some regret about that. Would you like to explain [01:30] why? Well, at the time, it was a gigantic career error, [01:34] [ LAUGH ] because I had just narrowly begun [01:38] to get serious writing assignments. And after I did that. [01:43] Suddenly, I could, I, I literally lost an assignment, to write [01:47] about the US information agency. But once feminism [01:50] began to dawn on me, I realized, wait a minute, you know, I [01:53] had more in common with the women who were working [01:56] there than I did with the editors who sent me there. I'm [02:00] Australian, and my country's most famous feminist let me [02:03] continue in Germaine Greer, is like you, very [02:08] good looking, and I wonder how much you think that helps, [02:14] when you are standing up for women's rights. First of all, I [02:15] have to tell you honestly. You don't think Germaine Greer [02:18] is good looking. No, no, no, wait a minute [ LAUGH ], that I [02:20] was, then when I became identified as a feminist, [02:24] I was already close to 40. So it was clear to me that [02:28] before and after I was a feminist I had a completely different [02:31] measure of how [ LAUGH ] I looked. Before I was sort of, a [02:36] pretty girl you know, attractive, afterwards [02:40] I was beautiful suddenly and so it was more a comment on [02:43] what people thought feminists looked like. Than it was, [02:48] on how, I actually looked. The [02:52] hard part for me is that sometimes those have been used to [02:55] say that well she didn't work. She just got this because she [02:59] looks good. But given that, beauty has a strange [03:03] persuasive power. And that people advertise [03:08] success is beauty when Jocks proposed with a product to [03:11] sell something. Has it ever occured to your something [03:15] trojahn horsey about it. Well, I would love to be a trojahn [03:17] horse for revolution, hmm good idea. Hahaha [ LAUGH ]. [03:21] No fine, i just feel that we just feel free to look however we [03:25] want to look. We ought to be free to wear whatever we [03:28] want and, and, be safe in the street. But if, if [03:32] my being a pretty girl, listen, I'm 77 [03:36] now I thought this would be over by now but anyways [03:38] [ LAUGH ] [ LAUGH ] You know, was [03:44] helpful, fine. You know, then it disproved a myth. So this is [03:50] you. No botox nothing. I hear botox hurts. I [03:55] though about getting a tattoo [ LAUGH ] [04:01] A tattoo would be on the neck No I was going to get a tramp [04:03] stamp on my 70th birthday. Oh, a tram stamp. [ LAUGH ] [04:09] What is your view of the Dominique Strauss- Kahn [04:12] situation? I'm very grateful to the NYPD [04:17] that plucked him off the plane. [ LAUGH ] I'm [04:21] very grateful to the maid who, you know, knew she had [04:25] rights, and brought an accusation. It's a great step [04:30] forward and one can see it's impact say, in France, you [04:33] know, on the woman who also suffered [04:37] an attempted rape by him and is now bringing a, a lawsuit. [04:42] How do you feel about the direction feminism has taken [04:45] with pessimism and third wave feminism. Are you [04:49] encouraged by what you see? Yes. No, I'm very [04:52] encouraged because I see the, the humor and the [04:56] hopefulness and the, they just have much better detectors [05:01] that we did. [ LAUGH ] They just don't take the [05:05] same I am out of bias and it is [05:09] great to see. 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