The Empty Promise of “The Future is Female” – A Call for the Present

Tantrum Media
Mar 8
7 min read

The Illusion of a Promised Future

A woman is born into a world that assures her things are improving. She is told that she has more rights, more opportunities, and more representation than ever before. She is led to believe that the injustices of the past—when women could not vote, own property, receive an education, or participate in public life—are gone, mere relics of a more primitive era. She is encouraged to look at the growing number of women in government, in boardrooms, in academia, and to see these examples as proof that progress is inevitable.

She is given a slogan that encapsulates this optimism: “The Future is Female.”

But what does it mean? It suggests that while things may not be entirely fair today, they will be tomorrow. It reassures her that though she still struggles against discrimination, harassment, and inequality, she is simply experiencing the last echoes of a dying system. She need not demand too much, too fast—after all, justice is on its way. The world is changing, and her children or grandchildren will reap the benefits.

But time, as women throughout history have learned, does not move toward justice of its own accord. Time is not an impartial force that bends toward fairness. Time alone has never granted rights, overturned oppression, or rewritten history. Every gain that women have made—from suffrage to reproductive rights, from labor protections to anti-discrimination laws—has been fought for, not given.

Saying that the future belongs to women is a form of postponement, a tactic used to prevent immediate action. It creates the illusion that things will naturally improve, without requiring radical intervention in the present. This is the great deception: that justice is inevitable, that all one must do is wait.

But waiting has never freed anyone.

The problem with saying that the future is female is that women do not live in the future. They live in the now—and in the now, they are still underpaid, overworked, underrepresented, harassed, controlled, and subjected to violence. The battle is not for a distant utopia but for the world as it stands today. The present must be female—because waiting for tomorrow has always been a way of keeping women powerless today.

A History of Waiting: Women as the Eternal “Not Yet”

Throughout history, women have been kept in a state of perpetual waiting. They have been told that change is coming, but that it is not yet time.

This was the excuse given when women demanded the right to vote. Legislators, philosophers, and religious leaders claimed that while democracy was a noble idea, society was not yet ready to trust women with the ballot box. Women, they argued, were too emotional, too irrational, too easily influenced. The idea that they could participate in governance was seen as disruptive, dangerous, and unnatural. The solution? Patience. Change would come eventually, they were told—just not yet.

The same argument was made when women sought access to education. Throughout much of history, universities and academic institutions were reserved for men. Women were told that their minds were not suited for rigorous intellectual pursuits, that too much studying would make them infertile or mentally unstable, that their duty was in the home, not in the classroom. And yet again, they were assured that one day, things might change.

When women pushed for economic independence, they were met with the same resistance. The idea of women working outside the home, earning wages, and achieving financial autonomy was framed as a threat to social order. Employers refused to hire them. Banks refused to let them open accounts in their own names. Even as women began entering the workforce in greater numbers, they were relegated to menial positions, paid a fraction of what men earned, and denied opportunities for advancement. And when they protested, they were told to wait. Progress was slow, they were reminded, but it was coming.

Even today, this cycle continues. Women are told that while equal pay is a worthy goal, it is not yet practical. They are told that while reproductive rights are important, lawmakers must consider other priorities first. They are told that while gender-based violence is a serious issue, systemic change takes time. The same excuse—not yet—has been used for centuries to keep women perpetually on the verge of equality, but never quite there.

If history teaches us anything, it is that progress is not a natural force—it is an act of will. Change does not occur because time passes. Change occurs because people demand it, fight for it, and refuse to accept anything less.

Women have been waiting long enough.

The False Gains: Economic Inequality and the Devaluation of Women’s Labor

Despite the illusion of progress, economic disparity remains one of the most persistent and measurable markers of gender inequality. Women continue to earn significantly less than men, even when controlling for education, experience, and industry. Globally, women earn 20% less than men for the same work (World Economic Forum, 2023). In the United States, women earn 82 cents for every dollar a man earns, a gap that widens significantly for women of color, with Black women earning 65 cents and Latina women earning 55 cents for every dollar earned by a white man (AAUW, 2023).

Yet the wage gap is only part of the picture. Women perform 75% of the world’s unpaid labor, including child-rearing, caregiving, and household management—none of which is compensated, despite being fundamental to the functioning of society (ILO, 2018). If this work were compensated at market value, it would add $10.9 trillion annually to the global economy. But instead, it is dismissed as a "natural duty" rather than valuable labor.

Even in industries where women dominate, wages remain stagnant. Fields such as teaching, nursing, and social work—historically female-dominated professions—are among the lowest-paid careers, despite being essential to society. Meanwhile, when men enter these professions, they rise quickly into leadership positions, benefiting from what sociologists call the "glass escalator" effect. Conversely, when women enter male-dominated industries, wages in those fields tend to decline over time—a phenomenon observed in law, medicine, and academia. This is not a coincidence; it is proof that women’s labor is systematically devalued.

Women’s Bodies: A Battlefield for Control and Violence

A woman’s body does not belong to her alone. Throughout history, laws, traditions, religious institutions, and cultural expectations have imposed control over her choices, dictating what she may do, wear, and experience. Her body has been treated as public property—regulated, monitored, and controlled by forces that do not prioritize her well-being, but rather the interests of those in power.

Reproductive rights remain one of the most contested freedoms worldwide. In the United States, the 2022 repeal of Roe v. Wade stripped millions of women of their right to abortion, leaving them at the mercy of state governments. This ruling did not just affect reproductive autonomy—it reinforced the idea that a woman’s body is not her own, but subject to the political whims of those who believe they have the right to control it.

Globally, over 40% of women live under restrictive abortion laws, forcing them to risk imprisonment, exile, or death for exercising bodily autonomy (Center for Reproductive Rights, 2023). In some nations, women who suffer miscarriages are prosecuted as criminals. In El Salvador, women have been sentenced to decades in prison for losing a pregnancy. In parts of Poland, abortion has been so restricted that women have died after being denied life-saving medical procedures.

Sexual violence is another epidemic that exposes the falseness of so-called progress. One in three women worldwide experiences sexual violence in her lifetime (WHO, 2021). In many countries, marital rape is still not criminalized, reinforcing the idea that a woman’s body belongs to her husband, not to her. Legal systems fail victims, with conviction rates for rape and sexual assault remaining abysmally low. Survivors are shamed, silenced, or disbelieved, while perpetrators walk free.

If the future were female, women would not still be fighting for control over their own bodies. But the present remains one of oppression, violence, and subjugation.

Motherhood: The Sacred Role That Punishes Women

Motherhood is revered in rhetoric but punished in practice. Women are expected to bear children, yet they are offered no systemic support when they do. Society demands that women become mothers but refuses to accommodate them. It glorifies motherhood while ensuring that it is an economic trap.

The United States, for all its wealth and influence, remains one of the only developed nations without federally mandated paid maternity leave (OECD, 2023). Women who give birth in America are often forced to return to work within weeks, enduring physical exhaustion and postpartum recovery while struggling to maintain their employment. Childcare remains prohibitively expensive, consuming as much as 30% of a woman’s income in some states (Economic Policy Institute, 2023).

In Japan, 80% of women leave the workforce after childbirth, not because they want to, but because they are pushed out by workplace discrimination (NIPR, 2023). Mothers face what is known as the "maternity harassment" phenomenon, where they are either laid off or demoted for having children. South Korea is witnessing the lowest birth rate in the world because women refuse to bring children into a system that offers them neither financial nor structural support.

The expectation that women should seamlessly balance child-rearing and careers without social safety nets forces them into impossible choices. If the future were female, motherhood would not be a burden—it would be a choice made without fear of economic devastation. But the present still forces women to choose between motherhood and autonomy.

A Future That Will Not Arrive Unless Women Drag It Forward

The belief that justice is inevitable is a lie designed to keep women complacent. Power is never surrendered voluntarily; it is taken. The future will not be female unless women force it into being.

To believe otherwise is to accept injustice as an unfortunate but temporary reality. But injustice is not temporary—it is permanent unless actively dismantled.

Women cannot afford to wait.

The present must be female.

Because the longer women wait, the more they lose. Because no one will hand them equality. Because justice delayed is justice denied.

Because if not now, when?