Former WWE writer Nico Gendron, a rare woman on WWE’s mostly male writing team, wrote a column about the evolution of women’s wrestling in WWE, GLOW, and her time as a WWE writer. About her time in WWE, she wrote:
I was hired at WWE in the summer of 2015, right after they introduced “The Divas Revolution.” In a male-dominated writers room, a female perspective was needed as WWE’s women wrestlers were expected to rise above their traditional role of full-time arm candy and part-time wrestler to share consistent (though limited) air time with their male, Superstar counterparts.
I learned quickly that this wrestling dynasty hadn’t caught up to the main cultural dialogue around feminism and female empowerment that was electric outside WWE. With a great deal of ground to cover, I realized I would have to embrace the little victories, like storylines that do not hinge on a disagreement over a male love interest, avoiding dialogue where male Superstars reduce female wrestlers by telling them to shut up or by positioning them as getting in the way of their own success.
Looking back at the “Divas” division even just a few years ago, I feel like most people would agree that some of the things WWE did were freaking embarrassing and it’s definitely good that things have changed…