Without a doubt, women dominated America’s economy this summer. Though women are often overlooked for their economic impact, there’s no denying Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, The Barbie Movie, and Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour’s incredible benefits to the U.S. economy.
According to Fortune, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will generate an estimated $4.6 billion in the U.S. alone through hotel stays, transportation, food, and even concert-goers purchasing themed outfits. The Wall Street Journal reports those in attendance praise Swift’s concert for fostering a safe space for women, enticing ticket holders to not only travel farther for the opportunity to experience the performance but also book a longer stay to make such travel worthwhile.
Furthering this impact, the Barbie movie made $1 billion in ticket sales in just seventeen days. With this incredible success in mind, Director Greta Gerwig’s centering of the movie on the experience of being a woman, in all its beauty and pain, has opened the door for future cinema to further explore similar themes.
Touted as the ‘Beyoncé Bump,’ Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour has ticket holders spending an average of $1,800 on their expenses, including head-to-toe metallic ensembles, as reported by The New York Times. Beyond consumers, Beyoncé herself has benefitted the nation’s economy through her charitable grant-giving BeyGOOD’s Black Parade Route Impact fund. The fund has given grants to small businesses local to where she’s performed, aiming to energize those affected by ‘economic inequities.’
All three works embody aspects of what it means to be a woman, thus they are inherently feminine experiences both created and sustained by women. Meaning, not only have influential women created the entertainment phenomena itself, it was thanks to ordinary American women of all ages for such astronomical success. There’s a strong sense of female empowerment in being able to sustain the largest economy in the world from potential recession. In effect, it’s encouraged a sense of female empowerment in a post-Roe era that often enables an environment of silencing and even criminalizing experiences that are too innately feminine. Despite this trend, the record-breaking success of these entertainment phenomena sheds light on the continued influence of women’s voices and actions.
