On March 3, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson arrived to Washington D.C., the day before his presidential inauguration, to find that there was practically nobody there. The absence of many supporters in Washington was due to the large crowd at the Women's Suffrage Parade on Pennsylvania Avenue. Thousands of marchers gathered to fight for women's right to vote. A little over 100 years later, nearly 2 million people worldwide gathered again, this time for the Women's March on Washington the day after President Trump was inaugurated. Similarly to the parade in 1913, both men and woman marched and protested for women's rights. However, instead of marching for change they hoped to see in the near future, as seen in the image about, men and women covered in pink now marched and protested with hopes of stopping changes that could happen with our new president. A long term fear includes the possibility that President Trump could appoint Supreme Court Justices that would like to overturn the Roe vs. Wade. decision that granted women's rights to abortion. Some other fears that could affect women sooner include a decrease in Planned Parenthood funding, as well as funding for contraceptive coverage. The Women's Suffrage Parade involved mostly women fighting for their own rights, but the Women's March this year was a good split between men and women fighting for women's rights. Since our current women's right's issues are no longer being fought by strictly women, for the most part, I hope that the outcome of President Trump's decisions will be in the interest of everyone and not just for his political supporters. Also, due to current technology and social media, the Women's March today was able spread much further than the Women's Suffrage Parade did to take place in nearly every state and supposedly 32 other countries. With so many more people in general, as well as a much wider variety of people involve in the March, I believe the women's rights supporters in current time will have much more power.
The link below summarizes the Women's March on Washington.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/21/womens-march-aims-start-movement-trump-inauguration/96864158/
It was amazing to see so many people turn out in support for the march in February. It was also interesting how like Wilson, so fewer people attended Trump's inauguration and marched the next day for women instead. It goes to show the power of social media and awareness for issues after he was elected. It also contributed to the international scale of the march and how 32 countries were able to hold a rally stating their thoughts.
ReplyDelete