As 2017, comes to an end, I'd like to look back on how 2017 was the "Year of the Woman". Throughout the year, women have proved that we are not the gender nor the sex to come against, and I am pretty happy about it. So here are the top five things that feminists did to make 2017, an amazing year for women in America and all over the world.

1. 'Feminism' is Merriam-Webster's word of the year.

Let's kick off this list with the most recent win. The word "feminism" beat the word "complicit" for word of the year. As defined by Merriam-Webster the word feminism as, "the theory of political, economic, and social equality of the sexes."

Although women are far from having political, economic, and social equality to men, 2017 was a progressive year that helped keep the train of equality for women chugging along into the year 2018, because we will never stop fighting for all of those things until we get them.

2. The #MeToo Movement

This movement was started by a woman and made specifically for women, but it is geared towards everyone. The #MeToo movement started years ago but only gained mass social media attention until a month or so ago, and I can say that it is an amazing movement. The #MeToo movement is close to my heart because I am a survivor of sexual assault and the movement allowed me to truly put my heart and soul behind a movement.

This movement has given me some amazing opportunities because I decided to speak out about my own assault which I have written about and was given the opportunity to present a PowerPoint about it on campus. #MeToo is a movement that a ton of people supported; it shed light on sexual misconduct within Hollywood and exposed the wrongdoings of many celebrities, some of which were noted in the past and overlooked, but in this year we are placing accountability on the actions of everyone because nothing goes unnoticed.

3. Saudi Arabia allowed women to drive.

The ban on women drivers was decreed by Saudi Arabia long before I was born and has been protested long after I was born, too. This new law, which is taking effect in June of 2018, is a huge step for women in the highly patriarchal Saudi Arabian society. In a new set of progressive laws that are slowly being put out by the government, women are gaining more rights within the country.

4. Taylor Swift won $1.

Honestly, this is the best countersuit I have ever heard of. Personally, I hold extreme disdain for Taylor Swift and her extremely immature ways but regardless of the feelings toward anyone, I will stand with other survivors of sexual misconduct. Taylor Swift sued former radio DJ David Mueller for reaching under the skirt of her dress and grabbing her butt. What makes this lawsuit so empowering was that she only sued Mueller for a dollar because to her it wasn't about the money, it was about making a point that sexual misconduct is wrong.

What also makes this lawsuit so empowering is that she won that dollar, too. The DJ host, David Mueller, then tried to "snub" her by giving her a dollar coin with Sacagawea on the face of it. However, Sacagawea was the strong kind woman that left her tribe to guide Lewis and Clark to the west coast because of the United States expanding their borders due to manifest destiny, so, I guess we now know who really paid attention in history class!

5. The "Wonder Woman" Movie

Even though Marvel and DC are two completely different entities within the comic book and superhero movie game, we have seen Scarlet Johanson's character, Black Widow, in numerous Marvel movies kicking serious ass and being a badass at it, too. But she has yet to get her own movie, however, every other Avenger or ally of the Avengers has gotten their own feature-length film. It is completely unfair. However, DC decided to not only introduce Wonder Woman in "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" but they followed up with her own feature-length film ASAP, not with another Batman or Superman film.

What makes this movie so amazing was that the director and costume designer were both women! It was a huge stride to have a movie about a woman superhero be backed by women behind the scenes! The female warrior costumes were not skimpy but realistic and I am saddened to see the realistic female warrior costumes be replaced by skimpier ones in the Justice League film (which I heard wasn't all that good, anyway. I guess we can see why? #SorryNotSorry).