Disney is famous for creating sugar cookie, wholesome role models on and off screen and most of us had at least one of these role models growing up. Maybe it was Raven Symoné and her character Raven Baxter, Hilary Duff and her character Lizzie McGuire, Miley Cyrus and her character Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana, or one of many other pop icons that rose to stardom during our childhood.

Now, I’m not saying that the role models who I had while I was growing up weren't great, because they were. Each of them taught me lessons that, to an extent, I still use today. After all, Miley Stewart's catchy “Bone Song” got me through my anatomy final. They were good role models in their day, but I’m grateful that my little sister has a new duo to look to for guidance.

Recently, my little sister ran into my room exclaiming that her TV show was talking about feminism. She was watching Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World, the next generation's answer to Boy Meets World, where the main character, Riley, is the daughter of Cory and Topanga.

I already knew of the actress who plays Riley Matthews, Rowan Blanchard, so I was elated, but not altogether surprised that it was this TV show addressing this issue.

For those of you who don’t know, Rowan Blanchard, along with The Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg, was named 2015’s Feminist Celebrity of the Year by the Ms. Foundation for Women. Although Blanchard is only 14 years old, she has made a name for herself in the world of gender equality with her eloquent essay on intersectional feminism and her appearance and speech at the UN Women conference.

The episode that my sister was watching when I walked in was one devoted to discussing the issue of the lack of women in STEM subject fields. In the episode, Riley and her peers have a science experiment to do where one partner drops a marble into a glass of water that will change it’s composition and the other will come back the next day and try to return the water to it's clear original state. The teacher allows the students to choose which partner does which task and that's where the lesson unfolds.

Riley's partner, a boy named Farkle, suggests that she drops the marble in and that he could do the science the following day. Thinking that it doesn't seem right, but knowing her partner's adept skills in science, she agrees. However, she notices something strange when she comes in later to drop her marble. As she looks around, the only other people doing this part of the assignment are the girls in the class.

Riley takes a stand and refuses to drop her marble in, rallying up all of her female classmates to show them the injustice that they're facing. Together, the female students are able to explain to the male students in their class, with more sass than I thought that Disney was capable of, why the mindset that girls aren't good at science is so detrimental.

Riley explains at the end of the episode that the purpose of the teacher’s experiment was not to return the water to clear after being clouded with mud, but rather that it was a metaphor to show the students how girls in middle school are often discouraged from STEM subjects. It's because of this that they lose interest in STEM subjects in favor of other subjects that they’ve been told that they’re better suited for. The only way to return the water to its clear state is to eliminate gender bias and see each other as are the equals that they are.

After watching this and many more episodes like it with my sister, I realized that it wasn’t just a feminist special, like Disney is all too often known to do. It is an underlying theme of the entire TV show.

Cory, her father, is very overprotective, but he also fosters her independence, self-expression, and growth as a human being. Meanwhile, no one is surprised that her mom, Topanga, is just as much of an advocate for gender equality as she was in her days on Boy Meets World.

While her parents play important roles, the magnetic and innovative twist about the show is that writers of have created the character of Riley, who is positive, bubbly, and extremely "feminine," yet also a strong feminist who is able to stand up to injustice.

What's even more amazing is that Riley is played by Rowan Blanchard. She is, in comparison to Riley, much more calm and edgy. At least, that's what I can gather from her Instagram.

I had originally intended this article to be about praising Rowan Blanchard, but my purpose changed while I was writing it. Rowan Blanchard should definitely be praised. She's an open-minded and perceptive feminist who I'm inspired by, but many of the young girls who look up to her today aren't really looking up to her, they're looking up to her character. Many of her fans aren't reading Huffington Post Women articles or even watching the news, they're watching the show.

That's why both the actress and the character working together to create this collaborative role model needs to be praised, not just one person or the other. Both are teaching young girls about growing up and being themselves. Together, the actress and character show children that there are so many different ways to be a woman and a feminist. They show that women, and people in general, are not just one thing, but can be many things with an infinite number of different facets and layers.

Girls are told too often to smile more, to dress and act less "girly" if they want to be taken seriously, or to dress and act more "girly" if they ever hope to find a guy. Rowan Blanchard and her character of Riley Matthews show teens that there is no wrong way to be a woman and to express femininity, if they even want to express it at all. It lets them know that the way that they feel comfortable expressing themselves is the right way.

Rowan Blanchard’s off-screen advocacy for intersectional feminism and trying to understand the world better and her on screen persona of a young girl who is finding her way to independence through awkward situations, inequality, relationships, friendships, and many other issues that adolescents are going through, together makes for one of the best role models that I’ve ever seen.

Politicians, journalists, and activists alike are always talking about how we are leaving the world full of our messes to the next generation for them to clean up. Well, that next generation is them. These kids will grow up, become adults, and make decisions for themselves someday. I didn’t understand the concept of feminism in depth until I went to college, but I’m hoping that with more and more teen role model combinations like Rowan and Riley standing their ground in the media and on screen, that this next generation of children will start understanding, and standing up against, injustice and inequality sooner.

I am so grateful that the next generation has Rowan and Riley to help them take on the world.