Women march again as Trump sparks activism

Women will return to the streets to mark Donald Trump's first year as president and protest his perceived sexist policies and attitudes.

Women around the world will again return to the streets marking one year after millions marched to protest President Donald Trump's election, with a new goal - electing more women's rights advocates.

Trump's perceived misogynist comments and policies rolling back birth control and equal pay efforts have propelled many women into activism for the first time, campaigners said, pointing to the success of social media campaigns against sexual harassment.

"I think that these are natural outgrowths of that outpouring of energy and they reflect some of the issues of the people who marched," Vanessa Wruble, head of March On, one group of organisers, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Some 5 million women around the world staged demonstrations on January 21 last year, the day after Trump's inauguration, many wearing pink "pussy hats" in reference to the president's boast about grabbing women's genitals.

"It felt like it was a huge signal to Trump's administration," said Elissar Harati, 29, who marched last year in Washington and will take to the streets again on Saturday.

Multiple accusations of sexual misconduct against male actors, filmmakers and agents in Hollywood, and the #MeToo and #TimesUp campaigns against sexual harassment, have awoken her to broader issues like equal pay and maternity leave, she said.

Tens of thousands of people have registered their intentions on social media to join rallies on Saturday and Sunday, with major events planned in New York and Los Angeles, as well as Britain, Nigeria and Japan.

But turnout is unlikely to equal 2017's, organisers said.

"The women's march of last year was a historical moment that we're not trying to replicate," said Bob Bland, who helped organise the 2017 march on Washington, which appeared to draw larger crowds than Trump's swearing-in at the US Capitol.

Marchers will kick off a voter registration campaign in Las Vegas and other swing states held by Republicans - where neither political party holds a predictable lead - ahead of a possible backlash against Trump in November's midterm elections.


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world