Between the onset of The Eras Tour and the Barbie movie’s release, 2023 was unoffciailly dubbed the year of women. For many, it sparked a new appreciation for the economic and cultural impact of women and girls. The good news? In 2024, we saw another wave of pop cultural moments that honor and celebrate women — that pushed the boundaries of the roles we’ve been told we are allowed to occupy.
Women have always been economic powerhouses, shaping trends and driving business. While we have historically been told that “women’s entertainment” — which we’ve branded with cutesy names like rom coms, chick lit, and pop music — is frivolous and low brow, the pop cultural impact of 2023 and 2024 highlight how deeply we’ve underestimated both women and the pop culture created for their enjoyment.
With that, let’s take a look at some of the most game-changing cultural moments, figures, and trends we saw in 2024… and the messages they sent the world about womanhood.
Sabrina Carpenter's rise
Carpenter has been on the scene for a while (did you know she actually began her career acting on Girl Meets World, the spinoff of Boy Meets World?), but in 2024, her star really rose. Carpenter made it very clear to fans that she’s a *woman* now. Through her unapologetic sexuality, bold lyricism and undeniable talent (that voice!), Carpenter became one of 2024’s breakout stars. In a world where women’s bodies are being policed through both policy and rhetoric, Carpenter’s bold approach feels almost revolutionary.
Nobody Wants This gave us emotionally mature male representation
Nobody Wants This premiered on Netflix, turning our nostalgic fave Adam Brody into the heartthrob du jour and making us remember (once again) just how talented and likeable Kristen Bell is. The show’s impact is about much more than its star power, though. What many women, especially millennial women who grew up on some pretty problematic narratives about romantic love, it forced us to reconsider relational dynamics. Nobody Wants This put healthy, mature love on our screens. It’s a stark contrast to the glamorized toxicity we’ve seen in many onscreen representations of love, and women welcomed this.
Chappell Roan continued to make us rethink femininity
Like Carpenter, Roan doesn’t shy away from expressing her sexuality in very overt ways. While Carpenter leans into her traditional femininity, Roan challenges us to expand our ideas about what being feminine truly can be. Roan’s musical impact is obvious; many of her songs became mega-hits, especially on social media. Beyond that, though, her social influence on our ideas about heteronormativity is just as powerful.
It Ends With Us provided onscreen representation of abuse
By contrast, It Ends With Us provided some one of the most realistic, nuanced looks at domestic violence and abuse. While the novel was popular long before 2024, the film adaptation released this year. People have praised the film for showing women how insidious domestic violence can be — how an abuser can seem charming and loving and kind. Many survivors have commented on how true-to-life the depictions of abusive dynamics throughout this story truly felt. The hope is that It Ends With Us will change the way women view these issues, and perhaps even cultivate the tools to identify and break these patterns in their own lives.
Kate Middleton’s health
The world began buzzing over Kate Middleton’s absence from the public eye. The speculation was intense, with countless rumors about the royal’s health and well-being emerging. It was a truly sickening display of cultural invasion… and ultimately, the world learned an important lesson when Middleton revealed she’d been diagnosed with cancer. The way we treat women’s bodies is overdue for a cultural reexamination, and Midlleton’s story put proof of that right in our faces.
Ilona Maher broke outdated beauty standards
Arguably the breakout star of the 2024 Olympics, Ilona Maher redefined our incredibly narrow set of beauty standards. To be clear, Maher is incredibly beautiful in every sense of the word, but her candor around how she’s been affected by restrictive ideas about women “should” look were so powerful. Maher has reflected on how real women have told her that they’ve changed the way they view their own bodies because of the example she set of embracing the skin she is in and the body that allows her to build a wildly impressive athletic career. In a viral TikTok, Maher also gave us all a much-needed check about BMI and its limitations as a deeply flawed health metric.
The Idea of You led the desirable middle-aged women's renaissance
On paper, The Idea of You is a story about a woman who enters a relationship with a much younger and very famous boy band star. On a deeper level, though, it’s a story about womanhood. It’s about the realities of aging, reclamation of self, and the judgement women face at every turn. It’s about the way we devalue women after they reach a certain age, and render them invisible. It's also about proving that women in middle-age still have desires... and desirability. The book has been around for years, but in 2024, the film adaptation released, bringing this story back to the pop cultural forefront. The movie and book both do a beautiful job of articulating the female experience.
The end of The Eras Tour
The Eras Tour began in 2023, but recently ended in December of 2024... and what a tour it was. It smashed records, inspired a whole sub-culture, and was perhaps the most tangible, undeniable proof of women’s economic power we’ve seen in a long while. With the tour ending, we’re forced to consider its legacy and how it will change the game for the women who come next. Through this tour, Taylor Swift showed us all that both girlhood and womanhood are powerful… and have been consistently underestimated.
Menopause visibility
Social media became a major vehicle for menopause awareness, which has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years. In 2024, we finally began to approach a place where menopause, and all that comes with it, is not stigmatized. When we think about women’s health, we often only think about reproductive health or even menstrual health — the reality is, there are so many considerations on the other side. Both perimonpause and menopause are finally being discussed in a mainstream way, and that’s an absolute game-changer for women’s ability to identify their own symptoms and advocate for better care. It's also a major motivator for experts and practitioners to learn more about this phase of a woman’s health as well.
The Wicked movie gave us a deeper look at beloved story
Arguably the largest film release of the year, Wicked (part one!) made major waves this year. The film stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo — two women. That is, in and of itself, rare: We frequently see movies led by two men, or a man and woman, but we rarely see two female stars carry a massive pop cultural phenomenon. Erivo and Grande also did not allow for any narratives of a feud betyween them — because culturally, there's nothing we love more than interpersonal drama between women. But these stars shut that down swiftly.
It’s not just the stars of the movie, though: Wicked is, at its core, a celebration of female friendship, rage, power, and rebellion. And the fact that people are seeing a musical that's been popular for 20 years for all that it is thanks to its movie release is very powerful.
Zara Hanawalt is a freelance journalist and mom of twins. She's written for outlets like Parents, Marie Claire, Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Motherly, and many others. In her (admittedly limited!) free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, trying new restaurants, and traveling with her family.
