I grew up in a household of strong women. You never had to wonder what the women in my family were thinking; they were always passionate, always involved, and always willing to fight for us kids. I consider myself something of an expert on the subject of the power a group of women can wield, and maybe that's why this map of Women's Marches across the U.S. gets me right in the feels. The thought of so many women marching in protest of a potentially tyrannical man in a position of power, all peacefully and in the spirit of unity... it is a beautiful thing.
The Women's March in Washington D.C., which was the original march started by a simple Facebook page, will be held on Jan. 21, the day after President-elect Trump takes office. The timing is obviously deliberate; as the Women's March website points out; the idea is to make sure voices are heard:
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 Washington march is expected to draw at least 400,000 people from all over the country, but not everyone who wants to protest Trump's presidency can make it there. Sister marches were formed as "solidarity events" around the globe. Now nearly every large center in the United States is holding a sister march.
The Women's March organizers have estimated that well over one million protesters will gather around the globe in response to President-elect Trump's inauguration. Protesters of all types (not only women) are gathering in cities from New York, Los Angeles, and hundreds of stops in between with a vision, according to CNN:
This march is the first step towards unifying our communities, grounded in new relationships, to create change from the grassroots level up. We will not rest until women have parity and equity at all levels of leadership in society. We work peacefully while recognizing there is no true peace without justice and equity for all.
Marches will also be held in countries all over the world; France, Italy, Germany, Canada, and dozens more will be joining their U.S. counterparts. As different as all of these countries might be, the protesters share a common thread; they want to make sure the incoming Trump Administration does not dismantle their freedom.
Hundreds of disparate groups have come together as one voice to protect those hard-won freedoms. Linda Sarsour, one of the event organizers, told The Guardian:
We have no choice. We need to stand up against an administration that threatens everything we believe in, in what we hope will become one of the largest grassroots, progressive movements ever seen.
This many voices cannot go unheard, even by a man as seemingly tone-deaf as Donald Trump.
