On Jan. 21, according to Vox, half a million women marched in Washington D.C alone, which was said to be the largest rally in years.
The Women’s March sent a strong and bold message to our new government, and to the rest of the world that women’s rights are important. Both women and men from all over the country marched to have their voices heard in the support of women’s rights, immigration reform, LGBT rights, racial justice, health care reform, among other issues.
The crowds were enormous and marches took place in Washington D.C., New York City, and Chicago, and other cities around the world. Additionally, the terror and anger that came from President Donald Trump’s rise to presidency resounded protests all over the world in places like Paris and London.
The movement especially aimed to fight that women’s rights are human rights. These rallies were aimed at President Trump due to his controversial plans for abortion and the inappropriate comments he made about women during his campaign.
Many celebrities, such as Scarlett Johansson, came to speak on behalf of the event. She said that her daughter, “may potentially not have the right to make choices for her body and her future that your daughter Ivanka has been privileged to have.”
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said, “We will send a strong message to the incoming administration that millions of people across this country are prepared to fight attacks on reproductive health care, abortion services, and access to Planned Parenthood, as they intersect with the rights of young people, people of color, immigrants, and people of all faiths, backgrounds, and incomes.”
Another celebrity, Natalie Portman, spoke out at the march and said, “[Women] must seek leadership positions, and support other women who do the same. Until we make it normal to have at least half, if not more, of our leaders be female, we will be serving, and with our taxes financing, a government that believes it’s within their domain to make decisions for our future.”
Just two days after millions of people came together to for this historic march,
Trump has restored the “global gag rule.” This policy prevents U.S. funding for any international healthcare administrations that takes care of abortions. This would create many clinics to shut down, more pregnancies to be unintended and more dangerous abortions for women. Women should have a choice in what they want to do with their bodies.
No one should prevent them from aborting if she does not want to have a baby. That is a choice a woman should be able to make on her own, without the government’s say.
Although much of the Women’s March was targeted at Trump, protestors stood up for women’s rights and issues that have been present for quite a while now. One of the bigger issues had to do with equal pay. In the article “Women Deserve Equal Pay,” The National Organization for Women said that according to the Shriver Report released in 2014, “Women’s average annual paychecks reflected only 77 cents for every $1.00 earned by men. Specifically, for women of color, the gap is even wider: In comparison to a white, non-Hispanic man’s dollar, African American women earn only 64 cents and Latinas just 55 cents.”
Regardless of gender, skin, or religion everyone should be treated equally and have the same rights.
Megan Kudisch, freshman student, agrees and says that, “As a women working in retail, I have felt diminished because of my sex and having to agree to sign on paper work that I accept getting payed less than my male counterparts was utterly humiliating.”
She continued, “To add salt to the wound I found out from word of mouth that a male coworker who started working two months after me with no work experience received a pay higher than me. Needless to say the system is corrupt and pay wages should be given based on experience and work ethinic not on one’s gender.
Trump responded to these protest. “Peaceful protest are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don’t always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views.” However, after the overwhelming success of Women’s March, a question remains, what actions will President Trump take in response to these protestors legitimate concerns?
Images taken from Teenvouge.com, Newsday.com,. ChicagoTribune.com
