It’s break time in an all-male office. The boys gather around a window to watch a gorgeous woman outside seductively pop open a bottle of soda and show off her stunning figure. Would advertisers get away with this nowadays? Perhaps, but feminists would be in uproar.

Now imagine the same scenario but with genders switched, and you have the classic 1994 Diet Coke ‘hunk’ ad. A group of women sporting shoulder pads and glasses – powerful and intellectual – gather together in the office to ogle at a construction worker’s rippling body glistening in the sun. Etta James sings, “I just wanna make love to you."

The 1994 ad depicted women enjoying their empowerment by objectifying men – and showcasing the beginning of a huge social movement: Girl Power. We all remember a song or a band that represented the social movements that accompanied our growth into adolescence. For me, at age 11, Spice Girls and the mantra ‘Girl Power’ was it – embracing femininity and being an empowered member of society were not mutually exclusive.

We still have some issues to address for gender equality. The underrepresentation of women on boards is but one example. Equal pay is another. For my generation, though, being a woman has never held us back and we are grateful to the women before us who campaigned for equality.

Twenty years after the wave of Girl Power, Coke’s newest ‘hunk’ ad was released early this year. The women look different. Gone are the shoulder pads and the workplace setting. They seem more feminine but there are no overt signs of their empowerment because it is assumed. But one thing is the same. The hunk still gives a splendid display for the ladies.

The empowerment of women shouldn’t be done in a way that disempowers men. Women are doing well, and all the power to them. OECD figures show that 59.7% of women in New Zealand have graduated from academic tertiary study. The comparable figure for men, however, is starkly unequal – 39.3%. Is the pendulum swinging in the other direction?

‘Boy Power’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. But perhaps the next wave of feminism will do what it set out to do originally – achieve equality between men and women.