Women March in Cleveland and Across the World
At 10 A.M. Saturday January 21, 2017, an estimated half million people attended the women’s march on Washington to support women’s rights and show unity following the inauguration of Donald Trump the prior day. Across all seven continents, 673 sister marches took place–drawing 2.5 million marchers worldwide, making this the largest inauguration-related march in history.
In the US, marches were held in all fifty states. Fifteen thousand attended the Cleveland march, according to a tweet from Cleveland Police. It was a peaceful demonstration, which began in Public Square downtown, and resulted in no arrests.
The Women’s March, according to the offical site, advocated not only women but Natives, indigenous people and their lands, immigrants, LGBTQIA, black lives, Muslims and those with diverse religions, survivors of sexual assault, and people with disabilities.
The overarching message was to call attention to the rights of any marginalized group and to send a peaceful message to the newly inaugurated president. (A marginalized community, according to reference.com, is a group that’s confined to the lower edge of society and may be denied involvement in mainstream economic, political, cultural, and social activities.)
Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, the National Organizations for Woman and Human Rights Watch signed as partners for the march.
The march followed the inauguration of Donald Trump. One of Trump’s first acts as president was reinstating a federal ban on U.S. funding for international health organizations that counsel women on family planning options that include abortion. Some pro-choice women’s rights activists cite that this can be deadly, as many often resort to dangerous methods of ending their pregnancy when lacking access to safe abortions. Fear over future policies from the Trump presidency that may fail to support women or other groups sparked the marches. Womensmarch.com reads, “The Women’s March on Washington will send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.”
The Women’s March of 2017 was much like the Women’s Suffrage Parade of 1913 on March 3, in which 5,000 to 8,000 suffragists marched on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. the day before president Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration took place. The parade drew attention to the Women’s Suffrage movement, and was a major milestone for the movement to win women the right to vote. It was led by Alice Paul, the National American Woman Suffrage Association and Inez Milholland (lawyer and activist), riding a white horse.
It is not uncommon for women to take comfort in numbers to make a statement that would otherwise be overlooked or dismissed. “I truly believe we are always stronger together,” tweeted Hillary Clinton.
Teen actress Rowan Blanchard of The Disney Channel’s show “Girl Meets World” said, “My generation who I am so honored to stand representing right now, knows exactly what is going on despite what many adults tell us. We know what’s happening because it’s happening to us too,” said Blanchard at the sister march in downtown LA.
Job Training Coordinator at CEVEC, Elizabeth Scully, attended the march in Washington and said she “felt a part of something huge, peaceful, and powerful.” For her, the choice to attend was about carrying on a legacy. “Political activism runs in my family. My great grandmother, Florence Brooks Whitehouse, was a suffragette in the early 1900’s and in our family we have always strived to be involved and informed citizens. I wanted to honor my great grandmother, my family, my sisters, and my daughter by being involved in an historic occasion to make a statement about where this country is going- and how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.”
In Cleveland, teacher Ms. Djukic said that even as an onlooker she was impressed by the people of Cleveland. “I passed by the women’s march during my morning run on Saturday. I didn’t stay and watch for long, but what I did experience was a peaceful demonstration. I was very impressed with the grace and class that I witnessed happening, compared to what is usually portrayed on the news.”
One MMS eighth grader, who attended with her mother, aunt, and two younger sisters, said that recent news had shaken her hope in people and the world: “but when I went to the march I saw how many good people there were,” she shared.
Shelby Segall, MMS seventh-grader who also attended the march said, “I don’t want my rights taken away because I have so much potential.”
The mission and vision of the march, as stated on womensmarch.com is as follows:
