A day to go down in the history books.
On Saturday, January 21st, hundreds of thousands of women, men, and children all around the country and even the world united together in hopes of inspiring, promoting, and standing up for the rights of women.
These brave individuals marched together representing every female body around the world. This was not just an Anti-Trump protest- this was a protest begging the people of our country to listen and respect women, and to not let whatever may be going on in politics at the moment affect other people’s perceptions and actions against women.
In fact, the values and principles of The Women’s March on Washington are clearly and precisely stated in a document stated “Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles”. Some of these general principles include:
- Believing that Women’s Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Women’s Rights, and that LGBTQIA Rights are also Human Rights.
- Believing that we, the people, must create a society where ALL women (Black, Native, poor, immigrant, Muslim, lesbian, and queer and trans), are able to live and care freely for their families.
- Believing that women should be free of any kind of violence against their bodies.
- Believing in the accountability and justice for police brutality as well as ending racial profiling and the targeting of communities of color.
- Believing in Gender Justice and equal pay.
That is obviously a brief synopsis of everything The Women’s March of Washington stood for and believed in. There are many more important issues they rise up for. It’s obvious as well that not every woman in the country could make it to Washington, so sister marches were created all around the United States and all around the world- in areas like Oregon, Texas, Georgia, Australia, Japan, Paris and even here in Reading, Pennsylvania. The turnout to all of these marches was highly anticipated, but even more came than were expected.
Although I could not attend one myself due to personal reasons, I feel a great sense of pride and joy in knowing that all of these people didn’t just stand up for themselves, but again- for all women. Even celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Madonna, Scarlett Johansson, Phoebe Tonkin, Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Wesley, Alfred Enoch and more participated in marches across the US. All of these people took part in this amazing movement despite any derogatory, misogynistic, or just plain offensive comments that could come their way.