#MondayMotivation: Our Woman of the Week is Rowan Blanchard!
By Emily Scott
Every Monday, Culturess chooses one woman in pop culture to be our Woman of the Week. These women inspire and empower us to kick ass, take names, fight the good fight, and live our best lives. Today, our Woman of the Week is Rowan Blanchard!
Okay. So, in technical terms, this Woman of the Week is a girl. Rowan Blanchard is only sixteen years old. And her body of work as an actress is still relatively small. But there is a reason we’ve picked her. Rowan Blanchard is one of the fiercest feminist voices for the younger generation. And it is a huge testament to her that in the short time that she’s been in the limelight, she’s been able to influence so many people.
Blanchard is best known for playing the role of Riley Matthews on Girl Meets World. The Disney Channel show was a sequel to the highly popular ‘90s sitcom Boy Meets World, which started out as a kid’s show, but grew with its characters. Boy Meets World was primarily about Cory, but his best friend Shawn was essentially the other protagonist. Similarly, Girl Meets World was about Riley, but more than anything, it was about Riley and Maya.
Which is a huge deal. For the first time in ages, maybe even since I was a kid, little girls could watch a mainstream show in which the real love story was between a girl and her best friend. And Rowan Blanchard is highly proud of that. “It was very important to me that the show didn’t become a triangle,” Blanchard told the LA Times High School Insider last year. “…At the end of the day, we want it to be about Riley and Maya’s friendship.”
Blanchard has been vocal about her views on feminism and social justice since day one of her fame, which started when she was about twelve. At the age of thirteen she posted a three-part explanation of and musing on intersectional feminism on Instagram. The post garnered widespread attention and set the tone for her social media presence. The pinned tweet at the top of her feed is from just after the election, and features a photo of her, defiantly holding up a protest sign. The caption reads, “I believe in my generation. I believe in girls. I believe in women. I believe in people of color. I believe in the LGBTQ+ community. I believe.”
Additionally, Blanchard is beginning to publish feminist-focused writing, starting with her insanely eloquent and relatable essay in Rookie Mag entitled “Sorry Not Sorry: How I Quit Apologizing for Existing.” And she’s not just writing about it. Blanchard is doing everything she can to promote the equality and celebration of women, from speaking at Glamour Magazine’s ‘A Brighter Future: A Global Conversation on Girls’ Education’ to representing Team He for She with a speech at the U.N. Women’s Conference. In all aspects, Blanchard walks the walk when it comes to feminism.
This past week, we received the news that Girl Meets World, Rowan Blanchard’s breakout series and the most positive and realistic representation of young girls on TV, would not be renewed. It’s a loss to all of us who think girls deserve to be portrayed with character, nuance, and joy. But it’s a loss to Blanchard most of all. In an Instagram post responding to the cancellation, she wrote, “I will continue to fight to not be talked down to by the shows and books and movies that are aimed towards us. I am sorry that this channel is just not able to understand that…But I know what we are capable of. I know very well what we did.”
We know, too. And we know what Rowan Blanchard will continue to do, in spite of this setback. We will definitely be seeing her on our screens, first in Ava DuVernay’s highly anticipated adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time. After that, in something else. But thanks to Blanchard’s commitment to activism and feminism, we know whatever she does will show girls everywhere that they can do anything. And we can’t wait to see what that will be.
Until then – world, meet girl.
Thanks for being our Monday Motivation, Rowan!
Next: 5 Underrated Modern Feminists Worth Supporting
You can see Rowan Blanchard’s work here:
Girl Meets World: The first 2 seasons of Girl Meets World are available on Netflix.
Rookie Mag: You can find Blanchard’s essay, “Sorry Not Sorry: How I Quit Apologizing For Existing,” on the Rookie Mag website.
Twitter: Follow @RowanBlanchard for inspiring messages from this young actress!
Instagram: Find her on Instagram at @RowanBlanchard.