It's no secret that a lot of change is coming our way this new year. Republicans now control the presidency, the Senate, and the House for the first time since the Bush Administration, a new industry is emerging in the states that have recently legalized marijuana, and technology of all kinds continues to advance every day. But what's changing in respect to the gender equality movement? In respect to the position of women in general?

Feminist author and Slate columnist Michelle Goldberg argues that,

“However freakishly contingent [Trump’s] triumph, it forecloses the future feminists imagined at least for a long while. We’re going be blown backward so far that this irredeemably shitty year may someday look like a lost feminist golden age.”

It's pretty easy to agree with Goldberg's less-than-optimistic outlook considering what has happened and what will most likely be happening soon. Whether you supported Hillary in the election or not, it's hard to dispute that the loss of a well qualified woman to a man who has no political experience to speak of was an incredible blow to the morale of the gender equality movement, as well as to that of most woman in general. Goldberg describes the 2016 election as something that “can’t help but reverberate through the culture, changing our sense of what is possible for women.”

However, whether you like it or not, Donald Trump is our president, and instead of griping about the past we must look to the future. Emily Crockett for Vox.com states that,

"Trump’s victory didn’t vanquish feminism. It just clarified the challenges that feminism is really up against."

Politically, we have many uphill battles ahead of us. So far, talk has emerged of defunding family planning services, supporting the epidemic of impunity regarding rape on college campuses, dismantling the few protections labor agencies have in place against gender-based discrimination in the workplace, and even repealing policies as seemingly permanent as Roe v. Wade. However, there is hope. President Trump is many things, but predictable is not one of them. He surprised us all by supporting the maternity leave proposal, something he was urged to do by his daughter Ivanka. If the pattern of Trump out-sourcing women's issues to Ivanka that has emerged prevails and we force ourselves to have faith in our government's system of checks and balances, there is hope.

Socially, our challenges are going to be a bit harder to face. If the rhetoric used throughout this election, by politicians, the press, and voters alike, proved anything, it is that misogyny is sadly still alive and well. This is why if feminism is going to be crucial any year, it is this year. We must set the tone for years to come; the events of 2016 must inspire rather than discourage because giving up and becoming passive is the best way to ensure the victory of those who wish to subjugate women and staunch the immense progress that has been made towards gender equality in recent years.

Crockett recently drew a comparison for Vox.Com that I find creative and accurate. She wrote,

"I think of the status quo on sexism, racism, and other forms of bigotry as like living in a town built on top of a toxic waste dump. The barrels aren’t as well-sealed or deeply buried as people think, and your kids are still getting sick....But city officials insist everything’s fine — and really you should count your blessings, because in the next town over everybody has to wear gas masks. But then one day, Hurricane Donald comes along. It roars through and rips up the grass and soil, and all the barrels bob to the surface and ooze toxic black goo everywhere, the stuff you thought and hoped was long buried. It’s a much bigger and more obvious mess, and nobody’s happy. But at least nobody’s fooling themselves anymore, and you know just how much hard cleanup work is still ahead."