As 2025 comes to a close, we’re taking a moment to honor the wins—large and small—that reminded us progress is still possible. Here are a few feminist victories worth celebrating.
1. An all-women’s professional baseball league was created.
This year, a definite win for feminists and women ball players alike was the organization of the first Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL)—the first of its kind since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) organized back in 1943. Tryouts for the 21st century league began in August at Nationals Park, D.C., and since then, four cities have announced an associated team—Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and New York.
This past summer, nearly 600 women from across 10 countries traveled to D.C. for the league’s open tryouts. From there, only 120 players made it through to the next round: the Nov. 20 inaugural draft. The top players span all four teams, but the favorite by far has been pitcher Kelsie Whitmore for San Francisco. The other nine top players from the draft include Ayami Sato, Kylee Lahners, Hyeonah Kim, Alli Schroder, Denae Benites, Ashton Lansdell, Amanda Gianelloni, Joely Leguizamon and Mo’ne Davis.
The league holds a special place in the hearts of the surviving members of the AAGPBL, like the iconic 98-year-old Maybelle Blair, who played one season with the Peoria Redwings in 1948. Since then, she’s dedicated her life to making women’s baseball more popular. Last year, the New York Mets awarded Blair their inaugural Legacy Award, just before throwing out the first pitch.
Season tickets are already on sale and games are scheduled to begin in August 2026.
2. The FDA approved a generic abortion pill.
Despite a year of attempts to block abortion access and limit the abilities for pregnant individuals to access life-saving care, on Sept. 30, the Food and Drug Administration approved a generic version of mifepristone. About two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. are via medication, and this approval will make it possible for three companies to begin creating a generic abortion pill—one of the main reasons abortion numbers have not dropped since Roe v. Wade was overturned. With more safe options on the market, access will expand and prices will drop.
3. The FDA took down its black box warning on estrogen products.
In early November, a nearly two-decades-long “black box” warning on estrogen products was finally taken down by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The warning, initially put on the products in 2002, led to a misaligned fear of using estrogen for vaginal and menopausal therapy for far too long.
For years, estrogen products have been proven to ease the symptoms of menopause, increase libido, decrease heart attacks in women and even prevent osteoporosis. For many, estrogen products have increased their quality of life, leading the FDA to take down the outdated boxed warnings. However, some research still suggests that people who take estrogen who have had breast cancer may be at risk for it returning.
4. Reproductive health advocates secured major wins for abortion access across the country.
In a year that saw abortion access contested throughout the country, the attempts to limit or ban it not being passed can feel like wins—especially due to the efforts made by organizations across the country that helped ensure they stayed.
- In Idaho, the state’s largest health system sued the state to protect the doctors that may need to perform an abortion in a lifesaving saving circumstance, preventing unnecessary deaths in emergency situations. For now, the doctors are still protected—who can save lives by performing abortions and avoiding preventable deaths, such as in cases of hemorrhage, which previously had made doctors fearful due to Idaho’s narrow law.
- Wyoming currently does not have any protections for abortion and the state is defined as “hostile” by the Center for Reproductive Rights, effectively creating an abortion ban. However, two laws banning abortions have been blocked by courts, and another ban on abortion pills was also blocked.
- In Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court voted down a ban that had been in place since 1849, which ended nearly two centuries of uncertainty and made abortion legal in July.
5. Hundreds of lawsuits this year challenged divisive federal policies.
While the 40 percent of lawsuits he has won are appalling and devastating, courts are hearing hundreds of cases of lawsuits during the second Trump administration. Of the 358 lawsuits that challenge his executive orders and his administration’s actions, 149 were blocked by the courts, 102 left in effect and 107 are still pending. The slew of actions taken by Trump and his administration—that hurt immigrants, women and Americans across the country—are being actively fought in court and by community organizations nationwide.
See: Associated Press’ Trump lawsuit tracker.
6. Transparency of the Epstein files was won.
The year began with the release of the first phase of Epstein files by Attorney General Pam Bondi in late February. After the initial release, advocates and lawyers of Jeffery Epstein survivors demanded the full release of the files and justice for the survivors.
On Sept. 3, the Democratic Women’s Caucus demanded the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The same day, more than a dozen abuse survivors of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell rallied at the U.S. Capitol. The act was passed on Nov. 19, making the files accessible to the public, though heavily redacted.
The transparency of the files is still continuing; on Dec. 24, nearly 1.7 million other documents that may relate to the Epstein case were discovered, but will need more time to go through congressional review for release. However, legal representatives of survivors say that the millions of uncovered documents could give more historical background into Epstein, potentially uncovering how his years of abuse began.
7. Liberation comes to Broadway.
Set entirely in a musty 1970s high school gymnasium, the cast of Liberation comes together, sits in the nude by the start of the second act and talks all things liberation. Bess Wohl’s original play previewed on Broadway Oct. 28, and since then, has received raving reviews from The New York Times, Variety and Vulture.
Wohl’s play, based on her mother’s experiences of the 1970s women’s liberation movement, who also worked as an editor at Ms. magazine, comes during an important time in present-day America, as basic women’s rights are coming into question just as they did more than 50 years ago. Although Wohl’s play maintains conversations and questions that women have not stopped having and asking since the ’70s, her play calls attention to the “radical” everyday women who served as the foundations for the change women see today.
8. France updated its rape laws to focus on consent.
In a unanimous Senate vote Oct. 29, France updated its law on rape, enshrining it as any non-consensual sexual act, after the horrifying rape case of 72-year-old Gisèle Pelicot. Although her husband’s trial began Sept. 2 in Avignon, France, his crimes occurred over a course of nearly 10 years.
During that decade, her now ex-husband would sedate Gisèle and film dozens of men having sex with her. Previously, the law was written that rape was “any form of sexual penetration committed with the use of violence, coercion, threat or surprise.”
Now named one of TIME magazine’s Women of the Year, Gisèle Pelicot has gone on to become an icon for feminism in France and a reminder for all women not to be silent.
9. Across the U.S., voters elected champions of women’s rights.
On Election Night 2025, Abigail Spanberger was elected Virginia’s first woman governor, and Mikie Sherrill was elected New Jersey’s first Democratic woman governor and the first woman governor in U.S. history to be a military veteran. Sherrill committed to continue her battle for accessible abortion both in her state and nationwide, also highlighting efforts to make abortion accessible to those in the military. Spanberger committed support for women- and minority- owned small businesses and remains a champion of reproductive rights
Mary Sheffield was elected as Michigan’s first woman mayor of Detroit, and the first Black woman mayor of Detroit. In 2013, Sheffield made became the youngest city council member in the city’s history. She remains a testament to Black women leading across the country in record numbers, as 18 Black women have served as mayors of major cities across the U.S. in the past decade.
Kaohly Her was elected as the first woman and first Asian American/Pacific Islander woman to be mayor of St. Paul, Minn. She was a refugee from Laos who came to the U.S. at three, and champions immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights alongside affordability, safety and opportunity for all, citing her own family’s opportunity to break the cycle of poverty due to the “American Dream.” She believes that all should have the same opportunities and safety nets to do so.
Ghazala Hasmi was elected as Virginia’s lieutenant governor, becoming the first Asian American/Pacific Islander woman in the role. She advocated for safe and legal abortions through the proposition of the Right to Contraception Act this year (which unfortunately, ended up failing due to a governmental veto).
Other historic wins of women mayors-elect in November were Dorcey Applyrs (first Black mayor of Albany, N.Y.), Sharon Owens (first Black mayor and second woman mayor of Syracuse, N.Y.), Katie Wilson (Seattle) and Marikay Abuzaiter (Greensboro, N.C.).
10. Pennsylvania elected its first openly trans mayor.
Erica Deuso was elected as mayor of Downingtown, Penn., with record numbers. She is the first openly trans mayor elected in the state of Pennsylvania, with a campaign that centered the economy, housing and affordability that affects LGBTQ+ communities and so many others in her 9,000 resident community.
“Voters chose hope, decency, and a vision of community where every neighbor matters,” Deuso said, according to Philadelphia Gay News. “I am deeply honored to be elected as Pennsylvania’s first openly transgender mayor, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly.”
11. Italy named femicide as part of its legal code.
On Nov. 25, Italy’s Lower Chamber of Parliament unanimously voted to ratify a law recognizing femicide in Italy’s criminal codes, which makes it punishable with life in prison. It was passed with bipartisan support and support from Premier Giorgia Meloni.
The law defines murders of women for misogynistic reasons as femicide, and includes additions of new measures against gender-based crimes. In the first nine months of 2025, more than 36 women were killed by a former or current partner in Italy, brought to the public spotlight by Giulia Cecchettin’s murder in 2023. Ceccchettin was a 22-year-old student stabbed by her ex-boyfriend in a year that saw more than 106 women murdered by femicide. A symbol of the fight against domestic violence in Italy has been the house key, which were jangled by members of the chamber as the votes were counted.
12. Robert E. Lee’s Capitol statue was replaced with Barbara Rose Johns’.
Now standing in the U.S. Capitol’s Emancipation Hall, in the place of the statue of Robert E. Lee, is one of civil rights activist Barbara Rose Johns. The new statue, unveiled Dec. 16, replaces the Civil War general as one of two statues representing the state of Virginia.
Johns died in 1991 at the age of 56, but at 16 years old, she and her classmates organized and led a strike to fight the poor-quality conditions of Robert Russa Moton High School in Prince Edward County, Virginia. The 1951 strike eventually resulted in a case—one of five—that would be reviewed by the Supreme Court during their decision of Brown v. Board of Education, which would go on to federally mandate the desegregation of schools.
The move marks a shift in Virginia’s representation of the state. Back in 2020, state representatives chose to remove Lee’s statue from the Capitol, deciding instead, to honor the state with a woman of color who, former Gov. Ralph Northam said, will no doubt continue to share her “contributions to America and be empowered to create positive change in their communities just like she did.”
13. Brazil strengthened its protections against gender-based violence.
After several high-profile protests throughout the cities of Brazil this year, the country’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, signed a law that strengthens protections for victims of gender based violence.
Over the past year, rates of femicide and violence against women rose to 37.5 percent, a new high for Brazil. Ten years ago, the country created its first law criminalizing femicide, defining it as any domestic violent crime. Now, Brazil’s most recent gender-based violence law demands that aggressors wear ankle monitors and that victims be notified if their aggressor is found approaching them. Other protective measures of the law include limiting gun ownership, heightening rape sentences and prohibiting contact between the victim and the abuser.
14. Thailand and Liechtenstein legalized same-sex marriage.
In Thailand and Liechtenstein, same-sex marriage became legal in 2025. This opened avenues for financial, social, and legal equalities for LGBTQ+ communities in those countries. Thailand was the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, a historic win for LGBTQ+ members globally. Liechtenstein became the 22nd of 37 European countries to legalize same-sex marriage, setting another important precedent, and preceding the legalization with social equities for queer couples as well.
