9 Figure 7: Methods of protests 2021-2022 Source: Authors’analysis of world protests in media sources 2021-2022, percentage of protests designating said target, each episode typically employs multiple methods and is counted yearly when ongoing, see: https://worldprotests.org/ Conclusion More than any other issue in 2021-2022, the rising cost of living has driven people around the world to the streets in protest. A recent report,“Food, energy& cost of living protests, 2022” has identified an unprecedented global wave of more than 12,500 individual protest events across 148 countries in all regions and country income groups over the cost of living(Hossain and Hallock, 2022). Although this crisis has hit countries of the global South hardest, it has also placed severe hardship on the poor and middle classes in the industrialized global North. In addition, the crisis has been compounded by the turn to austerity policies(more nicely called“fiscal restraint” or“fiscal consolidation” in the international financial institutions) in many countries as part of a Covid exit strategy. Another recent report,“End Austerity: A Global Report on Budget Cuts and Harmful Social Reforms in 2022-25” projects that a huge wave of budget cuts is expected in 2023, in 143 countries, which could impact more than 6.7 billion people, or 85% of world population(Ortiz and Cummings, 2022). Indeed, the authors conclude that measures already undertaken by governments will bring significant negative impacts for people in general and women in particular.