Feminism, the pessimists say, is over, drowned in a froth of pink tulle and buried with a stiletto heel through its heart. For those who have struggled to measure its success by its victories in equal pay and boardroom jobs, progress has been dishearteningly slow. The forces of darkness never seem far away, ready to berate the feckless undermining of the patriarchy, or to mock the reluctance of women to fight their way to the top as honorary men. Feminists have had their chance and it turned out no one wanted what they were selling.

Next weekend's sellout UK Feminista summer school should make the gloating critics reconsider. There is a resurgence in feminist activism, driven partly by a new appetite for direct action, from demonstrations like the SlutWalks earlier this summer to flash protests like last month's Eff Off, Heff against the new Playboy club in London. Campaigns against the pink princess phenomenon have made shops like the Early Learning Centre think more carefully about how they sell their stuff.

Grabbing headlines is important. It inspires and makes people think. But it can only ever be a part of the strategy: it's no good entertaining the movement's extroverts if you cannot deliver a result. It's worse if it reinforces the old slur about hairy-legged man-haters that left a generation of women embarrassed to say they were feminists. Below the horizon, though, there is something else going on that is not only about women fighting on traditional women's issues. Other new-model organisations like London Citizens or NHS Direct Action are finding that the way they do things encourages women to emerge as leaders. Working in intimate groups on issues like the living wage, with horizontal rather than top-down communication, makes it easier for women to contribute.

But change is hard, and slow. It needs the kind of momentum that comes from outrage, but it also takes someone to do the hard grind, to focus on the analysis and provide the ammunition. The Fawcett Society, part of the struggle for nearly 150 years, has made the running since the budget by taking the government to court for failing to consider the impact of cuts on women. And at Westminster there is proof that slow-burn campaigns make a difference too. Labour's determination to raise the number of women MPs forced the Tories to act in the end. The result, at last, is an intake of women that, although it is still less than a fifth of the total, has established itself as independent-minded and original. Every time Stella Creasy argues for better controls on loan sharks or Louise Mensch warns David Cameron not to change the law on anonymity for alleged rapists, another small step is taken on the long road to equality.