This article is part of Ananke’s 10th anniversary special, whicb can be viewed here.
Anger is a powerful emotion, and perhaps why it has historically been denied to women. It has been (and continues to be) a male privilege. Women hesitate to show their anger publicly because they have been conditioned to believe that anger is unbecoming, a character flaw. Unladylike. However, the same anger finds a different connotation when it comes to men. Then anger is macho, a sign of power and authority; something to be admired. From childhood, women are taught to suppress anger, to swallow it, to bury it deep within. Could you not show it in public? Angry women are labelled hysterical and “unladylike”.
For centuries, most women have followed this script, expressing their rage only in private, masking their fury with smiles and silence. Patriarchy weaponized this narrative. Feminists were portrayed as angry, man-hating women. The warning was clear—don’t be like them. Don’t make a public show of your anger. Don’t protest. Don’t speak too loudly. Anger is not for women. Thus, feminism was also not for most women. Demanding equality or protesting injustices was similarly not for them. The only option available to them throughout the centuries was silence—and they are no longer choosing it.
The script has flipped over the last decade or so. Women who stayed away from owning their anger as power are now joining protests, leading demonstrations, grabbing microphones, and screaming down the patriarchy. They are letting their anger school them, guide them, and fuel their demand for equality.
For too long, women compromised. They adjusted. They stayed silent to preserve the small pockets of independence they were allowed. But silence has a cost. Anger, when suppressed, does not disappear. It sits in the heart like a stone, heavy and immovable.
I know this anger. It has lived within me for years. Growing up in a patriarchal society, I learned to swallow my rage, compromise, adjust, and hold onto the small victories patriarchy grudgingly offered. Anger cannot be ignored forever, but it also did not belong in the narrative we grew into, either. Till it did.
Several years ago, I stood at a protest in New Delhi. The crowd was young, fearless, defiant. Fists punched the air. Voices rose in unison, righteous and loud. I stood awkwardly, observing. Then a young woman smiled, took my hand, and pulled me into the human chain they were forming. I hesitated. I was there to write, not to protest. But I couldn’t step away. I screamed slogans. I held hands with college-going young women whose courage left me breathless. At that moment, I felt my anger belonged. I learned something essential: anger, when shared, has the power to transform.
This is the age of anger. It is raw, unapologetic, and unstoppable. The 21st century has given women new tools for their rage: social media, public protests, and collective action. Across the world, women are taking to the streets, turning their fury into a force for change. One simple question—“If not now, then when?”—has ignited a global movement. Women are rising, demanding justice, equality, and dignity.
In India, more women have taken to the streets in the last decade than ever before
In India, the rise of public anger among women can be traced back to 2012. The gang rape of a young student in Delhi sparked protests across the nation. Women poured into the streets, united by their fury and demanding justice. It was one of the first times in the last decade that women had taken to the streets in large numbers, unafraid to express their rage in public. The demonstrations brought ordinary women out to the streets, including students and homemakers, many of whom would never have thought they would be shouting slogans in public before this moment.
Indian women have continued to fight. They protested in 2018 after the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua. They marched in Unnao when a minor girl accused an MLA of rape. They formed a 300-mile human chain in Kerala in 2019, defending their right to enter the Sabarimala temple after centuries of exclusion. In Shaheen Bagh, housewives turned their neighbourhood into a centre of resistance against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which discriminated against Muslims. In 2021, women farmers stood at the forefront of one of India’s largest protests, demanding the repeal of exploitative farm laws. These were not activists. They were ordinary women. Angry. Determined.
A Global Phenomenon
This anger is not confined to India. Across the globe, women are rising in their rage. In 2018 in Spain, thousands marched in purple t-shirts with banners reading, “For Those Who Are Not With Us” and “Justice.” In Istanbul, women chanted, “We are not silent, we are not weak, we are not obeying.”
The same year, in South Korea, some 70,000 women demonstrated, holding placards reading, “My life is not your porn,” protesting the epidemic of hidden cameras that violated their privacy. In Chile, schoolgirls and students marched against institutional sexism on college campuses and schools.
Around the same time, in Nepal, women dressed in black gathered to demand stricter laws against rape; in Brazil, they rallied under the banner #EleNao, denouncing then-frontrunner presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro, a leader who justified the gender wage gap and trivialised women’s rights. In South Africa, women marched to Parliament under the ‘Total Shutdown’ movement, demanding action against violence.
In France, the #NousToutes movement brought feminist groups together, pushing for stronger measures against domestic violence. In 2020, in Mexico, women declared a “day without women,” refusing to work or participate in public life to highlight their indispensable role in society.
Women are locking arms across the world. In Portland, mothers formed a human barrier to protect protesters during Black Lives Matter demonstrations. In Mexico, mothers of the disappeared march with photos of their children, combing mass graves in search of answers.
These protests are not isolated; they are interconnected by a shared fury. From the streets of Santiago to the villages of India, women are turning their rage into resistance. They are no longer satisfied with incremental change. They want a systemic overhaul, and they are prepared to fight for it. Anger is the thread that unites these movements, a raw and potent force that demands attention.
Anger is not new. But for the first time, women are owning it as their power.
How MeToo United the World’s Women
The #MeToo movement became a global eruption of anger, uniting women in 85 countries and sparking an unprecedented wave of activism. What began as a phrase coined by U.S. activist Tarana Burke to support survivors of sexual assault and harassment exploded into a full-throated cry for justice in 2017. When actress Alyssa Milano tweeted #MeToo to call out Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, it unleashed a torrent of rage from women across industries, breaking decades of silence about harassment, exploitation, and abuse at the hands of powerful men.
This anger was not confined to Hollywood. It swept across professions, geographies, and social strata, highlighting the pervasive nature of gendered abuse. In India, the movement took root in 2018, exposing predators in fields ranging from politics to journalism. While the accused fight their battles in court, the movement irrevocably shifted the conversation. It demanded accountability, sparked global outrage, and shattered the illusion of progress in spaces once assumed to be equitable.
#MeToo’s most significant impact was that it legitimised women’s anger. It showed that rage—long dismissed as unladylike or irrational—could be harnessed to dismantle systems of oppression. Women across the globe were no longer asking for change; they were demanding it.
This anger is unapologetic
It refuses to be pacified by platitudes or superficial gestures. It demands accountability, justice, and real change. And it is relentless. Women are no longer afraid to show their rage—whether through viral hashtags, mass protests, or grassroots organising. They are using their anger to create a world where equality isn’t an aspiration but a reality.
The #MeToo movement was a flashpoint, but it was also a starting point. It reminded the world that women’s anger is not just an emotion, but also a force for transformation. This anger has brought women together in unimaginable ways, creating a global network of solidarity and action. It has shown that when women channel their rage collectively, they are unstoppable.
This unapologetic anger means women are no longer asking to be heard; they are making sure they are. They are embracing anger as a tool to change their lives and to pave the way for a future where equality is not a struggle but a state of being.
The age of the angry woman is here – and not a moment too soon.
About Nilanjana Bhowmick
Nilanjana Bhowmick is an award-winning journalist, feminist writer, and TEDx speakerwith over two decades of experience in storytelling and advocacy. Her work has appeared in TIME Magazine,National Geographic, The Washington Post, and more, focusing on gender equality, social justice, and women’s empowerment. She is the author of two best-selling books,Lies Our Mothers Told Us and How Not to Be a Superwoman. Beyond writing, she has worked with multilateral organizations like UN Women and UNDP India, creating strategic content and advocacy campaigns that drive action on critical issues, especially Gender Equality. She is also aTEDx speakerand curates “Wednesday”, a weekly newsletter on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.
Cover Image by mooremeditation from Pixabay
