J.K. Rowling's lonely fight for women's rights

Originally Published in The Washington Examiner
25 June 2020

A century ago, on Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified and women were guaranteed the right to vote. While we have achieved much else besides since then, not least in terms of our educational and economic and political opportunities, the fight for gender equality still has a long way to go.

Supporters of an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution — passed by Congress in 1972 — haven’t given up on getting it ratified by enough states. The United Nations has an entire campaign for global gender equality. Actresses and other celebrities have come out by the hundreds in support of the #MeToo and the #TIMESUP movement. Taylor Swift released a song last year lamenting that life is easier for men. And last October, Melinda Gates committed $1 billion to expand “women’s power and influence” in the United States. Along with Mackenzie Bezos, she has put up an additional $30 million for a gender equity contest.

There is, in short, no lack of interest in America and around the world in women’s rights and women’s empowerment. And yet none of this appears to count for very much when a female author dares to stand up to an increasingly militant, not to mention intolerant, transgender movement.