On Saturday, 18th of January D.C. hosted its 4th annual women’s march took place, where 15+ BISW students and faculty attended in support of women’s rights. The march in D.C. was the largest but there were 200 sister marches held in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago and Brussels.
The march began at the Freedom Plaza where several speakers addressed the protesters before beginning their march toward the White House. The 3 issues the protesters were advocating for was: “climate change, reproductive rights and immigration” said protesters to NPR reporters.
Students ranging from Year 8 to Year 13 attended the march and we spoke to them in order to understand the goings on.
BISW student Gudbjorg Kjartansdottir attended the march and said “We arrived at freedom plaza at around 10 am and at 11 am speeches were made people such as: Martin Luther King Jr.’s granddaughter and daughter in law as well as other influential women. We were then taught a dance to perform and a song in both English and Spanish.”
Thora, a year 13 student said “[seeing] thousands of women unite in D.C. leading a protest against prominent gender issues and regulations on abortion, it was inspiring to see so many women returned ready fight for their rights.”
The march began at 12pm and the group of thousands of supporters made their way to the White House. As the march began several signs were put up and many memorable moments.
Thora said “I wanted to go show support for women globally that are less privileged than me. Last year, I attended the Women’s march, and it was amazing seeing all these people coming together, men & women to protest ongoing gender discrimination in America as well as globally.”
There were many poster boards made by the rally attendants including references to: pop culture, memes, and politics
Britt Oranje said “I loved the sign ‘pay me like a man’ I feel like people were just really expressing their frustration with inequality and the double standards we still face”.
She also stated “I really liked seeing everyone coming together and being so passionate about a cause and finding like-minded people all at the same time.”
Gudbjorg said “There were a lot of creative signs: [I saw] a few baby Yoda signs, and I was surprised by the amount of Trump signs I saw, I’d say more than 3/4 were about him. There were many more that really cracked me up and it was fun to see just how different they all were.” Thora added “One memorable moment was when we all learned the chant and dance to “El violador eres tú”, which is a Chilean resistance movement that has spread globally and is aimed to call out sexual violence and the patriarchy.”
The weather seemed to hinder the protests as the 18th reached the extremely cold temperature of -2 Celsius, causing numbers to dwindle and kept people inside of homes, rather than protesting.
Britt said “I had a good time at the march, I got buttons and T-shirts and a lots of memories, but it got so cold and as much as I wanted to stay I couldn’t complete the march.” Gudbjorg said something similar “The group I went with and I did not complete the march, as it was freezing, we just couldn’t continue”
Many of our attendants spoke about a demonstration happening parallel to the Women’s March; an anti-abortion protest.
“When we were about to start marching there were people protesting abortions holding signs with explicit images around the corner. I thought it was quite interesting when a woman holding a different sign in favor of abortions went up to them and stood with them blocking their signs.” Gudbjorg recounted.
Britt saw a similar series of events further ahead “there were all these women with ‘anti-abortion’ signs that were extremely graphic with bloody baby doll hands and legs, I just thought it wasn’t the right place to demonstrate, this was a celebration of women not pitting them against each other.”
Overall, every student that attended happily supported the fight for women’s rights alongside thousands of others. The fight has come far but has a long way to go as we face discrimination towards women and their rights in our day to day lives. While the Women’s march was met with a pro life protest no hostilities were reached other than explicit images and disagreements. With memorable moments and signs with pop culture, and social references.
- Minna Abdel-Gawad
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