THE GREAT GENDER DIVERGENCE

Friendships are the foundations of feminist progress. When bullied at work, mistreated by boyfriends, or unsupported at home, a woman turns to her friends. They listen, empathize, and lambast unfairness. Simone Biles and her teammates came out strong, together. Female friends embolden each other the world over—by celebrating shared victories, skewering rape myths, and collectively affirming women’s equal competence. But how many paintings pass the Bechdel test? Female friends

Wherever they ruled, communists engineered cultural change by dethroning religious authorities, educating women, and harnessing them as workhorses. Today, ex-communist countries lead the world for gender parity in education, employment, and management roles. Yet it is my contention that the status of women would have been higher without communism. To the extent that communism suffocated civil society, it choked off strong independent women’s movements and stifled further prog

s women advance economically, they can build and benefit from more female-friendly institutions.