Women of the world are marching again this weekend
This time last year, six million people from over 600 cities participated in the first Women’s Marches. Sparked by Donald Trump’s inauguration, people from all genders, ethnicities, ages and backgrounds marched around the world in a global call for equality rights. They were led and named for women, but the 2017 marches were about human rights in all their forms, including women’s rights, immigrant rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, LGBTQI rights, workers’ rights, and racial equality.
This coming weekend, many are set to do it again, with Women’s Marches once again happening all over the world.
This time last year, six million people from over 600 cities participated in the first Women’s Marches. Sparked by Donald Trump’s inauguration, people from all genders, ethnicities, ages and backgrounds marched around the world in a global call for equality rights. They were led and named for women, but the 2017 marches were about human rights in all their forms, including women’s rights, immigrant rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, LGBTQI rights, workers’ rights, and racial equality.
This coming weekend, many are set to do it again, with Women’s Marches once again happening all over the world.
The 2018 Women’s March is built on the Health, Economic Security, Representation, and Safety (H.E.R.S) framework, which advocates for fair and equal access to health services, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, the dismantling of barriers to women’s full and equal economic and political inclusion, and a world where everyone can live free of violence, oppression and police brutality.
The Marches across the United States, aim to get women registered to vote, and support marginalised communities to engage with politics. Globally, the theme of the march is “Look Back, March Forward”, and is both a celebration of the achievements of past year and a commitment to dismantling systems of oppression in 2018.
It’s worth nothing that while the event is global, the majority of the marches are taking place in Western nations. Next year, we’d love to see more support for Marches in the Global South for a truly inclusive global movement.
How to join the movement
In Australia, Marches will be held in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney on Sunday 21st of January. So far, almost every continent has at least one Women’s March registered. To find out if there’s one in your area, click here. No event yet? The global website is encouraging diverse women the world over to register their own event, or take part online by engaging with the hashtags #LookBackMarchForward and #ThisIsGlobal.
The purpose of the Women’s March remains to “harness the political power of diverse women and their communities to create transformative social change”. What we love most is how it’s marketed as an entry-level piece of activism that anyone can take part in. At last year’s marches, everyone from babies to octogenarians took part. For many of those we spoke to at the Melbourne March, it was their first time ever attending an event of activism, and those same people later went on to march on International Women’s Day.
As Australians, we’ll among the first in the world to March. If you plan on attending, tweet your support under the hashtags, or email us through photos; we’d love to see them.