"Know you are not alone. Know that you are supported and know that your voice is strong. It’s strong, and don’t let any circumstance diminish that or take your power from you. You are powerful. ... You are strong."

Minnesota is among a majority of states that treat intoxication as a barrier to consent only if victims became drunk against their will, like if someone spikes a punch bowl at a party. Advocates worry that this loophole may lead some perpetrators to prey upon intoxicated women.

In an attempt to highlight gender disparity in the restaurant industry, Burger King UK tweeted "Women belong in the kitchen." In a series of subsequent threaded tweets, the fast food giant pointed out the lack of female chefs in the restaurant business. But the effort seems to have fallen flat.

"A challenged world is an alert world," the International Women's Day website says. "We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality."

Acts of sexual violence occur on a spectrum, experts say. A 2018 survey found 81% of women had experienced some form of sexual harassment during their lifetime, and research shows workplace sexual harassment is widespread. On one end may be a serial predator accused of rape, on the other a male boss making sexually suggestive comments. All behaviors along the continuum are harmful, and the amount of trauma someone feels isn't determined solely by where the violent act they experienced sits on a spectrum.

“I’m just excited as hell to get into the future. I believe women today are going to be the driving force throughout not only sports, but the economy and everything else. I just think it’s time for women. And I’m proud to help, any way I can.”

Up to five quarters a year will depict female leaders, from the suffrage and civil rights movements to government and the arts, starting in 2022.

Veteran sports writer Melissa Ludtke, who sued Major League Baseball after being barred from entering the New York Yankees clubhouse, explains, “I often will also say that in some ways, I did what women did in the '70s – I went to court and changed the law. What’s been harder to change over the decades are the attitudes. That’s what you find out – you celebrate the legal win and it’s ‘Well, we took care of that!’ “No, you haven’t. Not until the attitudes change.”

The Biden administration is accelerating steps to feature abolitionist hero Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, a change announced during the Obama administration that stalled under President Donald Trump. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that it’s important the nation’s currency “reflect the history and diversity of our country.”

When the pandemic sharpened the divide between our public lives and our private selves, it gave women space to examine what they do to their bodies and why. The question is, will any of these relaxed beauty norms stick?

Research shows everyday sexism is linked to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in women. What some women experienced Wednesday was collective and individual trauma and re-trauma, experts say, regardless of whether they've experienced male violence directly.

The year 2020 highlighted a paradox in the advancement of women’s leadership. Women made large cracks in the glass ceilings of bastions of male dominance. But 2020 also showed us that women, especially women of color, are bearing the brunt of the effects of the global pandemic and social unrest. Last year gave us a road map to improving gender equity in 2021.