The annual women’s march took place this Saturday 19 January and saw thousands of women gathered across the globe. An estimated 89 women’s marches took place on 19 January 2019 in around 30 countries worldwide, marking the 3rd anniversary of the first women’s march that first took place in 2017 and saw up to 6 million gather the day after the inauguration of President Trump to voice concerns over his attitude towards women.
Background
The Women’s March movement began after the 2016 election of President Trump and immediately after his inauguration, millions of women around the world marched in solidarity for women’s rights in January 2017. In 2018 the rally honoured the #MeToo movement that campaigns against the sexual harassment and abuse of women.
Women’s March around the world
In London the march focused on the impacts of austerity and Brexit on women in the UK. Hundreds of women walked through London’s West End and ended the march at Trafalgar Square. This year’s march was named the “bread and roses” rally in honour of suffragette Rose Schneiderman and was entitled such to reflect marchers’ “hunger to thrive and not just survive on bread”. After a number of female workers died in a factory fire in 1911 Schneiderman declared: “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.”
UK organisations such as 50:50 called for equal seats in parliament because they say that,
“representation shapes policy and women’s experience and opinions count as much as men’s”
Sarah Green of the End Violence Against Women coalition said the link between austerity and violence against women was marked, and added that,
“Austerity has been devastating for the life-saving services women rely on,”
Sophie Walker, leader of Women’s Equality UK addressed the crowds on 19 January,
“Patriarchy doesn’t just take women for granted, it relies on our oppression to ensure others thrive,” she said.
Monica Aidoo, Leader of the group, Women for Refugee Women told the crowds:
“Refugee women deserve to be given a chance to thrive in the UK.”
In the US in some major cities separate marches were held due to controversy and split in the movement. Women’s March founders Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour have been accused of anti-Semitism, which has caused some division in the movement. Board member Carmen Perez-Jordan responded by saying,
“Over the last year, my sisters in Women’s March and I have faced accusations that have hurt my soul,”
Tamika Mallory responded to accusations by addressing the Jewish community in the US,
“And to my Jewish sisters, do not let anyone tell you who I am. I see all of you. I see you and I hear your pain,”
Mallory’s co-chair of the women’s march movement, Linda Sarsour followed up by saying,
“there are no perfect leaders. We are all flawed human beings we should not be throwing stones from glass houses.”
The separation in the movement was most apparent in New York. In uptown New York the streets of Manhattan were filled with women in the Notorious pink that has become synonymous with the women’s march movement. But on the other side of town women gathered for a separate rally, with many women arguing that they could not join a protest organised by a group whose leaders are alleged to have supported people with anti-Semitic leanings.
The division in the movement was most starkly represented in the New York Women’s march movement as they could not reconcile their differences to show a united front and work together on one march.
Protestors in Washington marched past Trump’s International Hotel chanting,
“All for one and one for all, stop the shutdown, stop the wall.”
As the march in Washington came to an end, indigenous women performed a song for missing women and girls. Raquel Chee a member of the Window rock Navajo Nation in Arizona said,
“We are here to speak out for them, remember them and bring light on the issue that our relatives go missing and murdered all the time,” she said.
Overall, despite ongoing fractions in the Women’s March movement itself, 2018 represented a year of successes for women in the US with a record number of women being elected to office. The first Muslim and Native American women were recently sworn into Congress.