The morning I had over 20,000 people “interested and coming” to my event… it was surreal. I could not wrap my head around it. I kept saying, “Oh my god, oh my god!” out loud to no one. Then I got busy trying to harness the momentum and get a ton of people on board.
This was a grassroots, bottom-up movement that was accomplished in two-and-a-half months. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears from many people, but it’s the biggest protest in the history of recorded protests. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Does it make a difference? Absolutely.
I understand the intersectionality issue and it’s important. Two of my granddaughters are of Asian American ancestry. As a white woman, if had a hardship in my life, I still had a privilege that a WOC who may have faced the same hardship did not. I can empathize, but I haven’t walked a mile in her shoes.
I’m coping the best I can right now. I live in a quiet, remote town of 1500 people. My way of life has been upended for sure. But I’m honored to have been the catalyst for something so extraordinary. So I’ll take this as part of the package—although I never expected this in my wildest dreams.
I’m still sorting that out for myself. I am working with my Hawaii team of state organizers for Women’s March on Washington (WMW), which aligns with the National movement. We have added the logistical issue of being an island state and separated by water. We have been communicating all along and we have our first meeting in a week.
capital for the Women’s March on Washington, a massive protest in the nation’s capital aimed largely at the Trump administration and the threat it represented to reproductive, civil and human rights.
Leading up to the Women’s March on Washington, the organizers expected some 200,000 people to attend.
And in October 2017, MarchOn, a progressive group founded by march leaders from around the country, launched a Super PAC as part of its efforts to create political change, including mobilizing supporters to vote in the 2018 midterm elections and beyond.
The movement’s inciting Facebook event, created on the night of the Trump’s election, was made by Hawaii resident and retired lawyer Teresa Shook. Shook is regarded as the founder of the Women’s March. The current leaders of the Women’s March include co-presidents and board members Tamika Mallory and Bob Bland, who work alongside co-board members Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez. [33] These co-chairs were named in November of 2016, as they were already at the forefront of the women’s rights movement.
The Women’s March movement has an impactful presence on social media, with the widest following coming from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. [44] Social media allows the movement’s events to be streamlined, making it easier for individuals to join in.
Feminism in the US started as early as the 19th century when women called for greater freedom for themselves as well as for the end of slavery. At the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, leading women’s rights advocates such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott joined together, working to craft the Declaration of Sentiments that outlined several fundamental human rights that women deserved. At last, in 1920, women were granted the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment. [58] Since then, women have fought for various causes related to their equality in society: fair treatment in the workplace, reproductive rights, equal pay, and more.
Hannah is a fourth-year UC Berkeley student who is currently pursuing a degree in Ethnic Studies and a minor in Education. She is passionate about social justice and interested in business. She enrolled in the Social Media and Social Movements course offered through the Haas School of business to explore how to unite her two passions professionally.
The movement has not yet ended, as it is an annual recurring march that will take place again next January and in smaller marches throughout the year. It is difficult to say whether or not this movement has been a success, as the Women’s Agenda was only released just over a year ago. However, in comparison to previous years, the 2019 March was more of a failure in terms of attendance, support from organizations, and the organization’s overall reputation. Because of the controversy surrounding the organizers’ anti-Semitic views, the movement as a whole suffered, seeing many people abstain from marching and many organizations abstain from sponsoring the March.
Although the Women’s March movement has been embraced by millions of individuals since its creation, there have been critiques of it by liberal activists, politically conservative groups, as well as original supporters with the start of its controversy around anti-Semitism.