by Dylan Carlson Sirvent, ’19
On Saturday, Jan. 21, hundreds of thousands of protesters congregated across the world for the Women’s March, including cities such as Washington D.C., Chicago, New York and Columbus. At 10:00 a.m. in Washington D.C., the National Mall was a sea of pink “pussyhats” – pink knitted hats with cat ears. It was not until 1 p.m. that the pink sea started flowing out into DC’s historical streets. The Women’s March lasted until late afternoon, 6 p.m., with thousands driving back home from their one-day expedition to voice their thoughts on one of America’s most divisive election in recent years.
Senior Tory Loux went to the Women’s March, leaving Friday evening to reach the nation’s capital. Loux hopes the March is a sign of more things to come.
“I hope it is not a one-time thing… I hope the momentum keeps up,” Loux said. “The people who organized the March have published things on their website to try to keep the momentum going, calling for people to send postcards to Senators and raising issues that are important to them.”
Loux, a member of the LGBT community, said she enjoyed the sense of camaraderie at the Women’s March.
“It was nice to be among the bunch of people who don’t agree with opinions expressed by Donald Trump and to be surrounded by people who wanted to take action against that.”
However, some do not share the same outlook as Loux and Evans. Joe Mark* does not understand and questions the premise of the March.
“First of all, I support the idea that it is against Trump. However, I don’t support it is called it is Women’s March. I believe that women should have equality like men, but when they reach that equality, they want more and more. Women like to ask for more,” Mark* said. “It is all right for a woman to have something that a man doesn’t, but if a man has something a woman doesn’t, the feminists will rise up. It would be appropriate to change the name so that it is just not women’s. It should be about unity. If the march was called the Men’s March, that would be unfair to women. More unity is better to attack a common target [Trump].”
This is not a lone voice; a survey carried out by the Arlingtonian which was filled out by 301 students and staff at UAHS showed 15.9%, around 48 people, did not support the Women’s March. Also, a recent article published by The New York Times, headlined “Republican Men Say It’s a Better Time to Be a Woman than a Man” reported a survey carried out by nonpartisan research and polling firm PerryUndem which found that more than half of the 1,302 respondents who identified as Republican said it was a better time to be a woman than a man.
Dennis Halaszynski, an 81 year-old retired police captain in McKeesport, PA and a registered Democrat who voted for Trump, told The New York Times in the January story, “It’s easier being a woman today than it is a man. The white man is a low person on the totem pole. Everybody else is above the white man.”
However, senior Alison Evans said she disagrees that it is a better time to be a woman than a man.
“I do not think women have equal rights. They do not have the same pay,” Evans said. “Women are paid less for the same job than a man is, and there’s many other inequalities.”
According to organizers and partners of the Women’s March, it is the beginning of a movement for women’s liberation and ending women’s healthcare stigma, which they believe to be imperative in the wake of the inauguration. While others disagree with their goals, it’s clear that Trump’s inauguration has sparked a worldwide movement of solidarity with women.
Dylan Carlson Sirvent 