This past Saturday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in Washington D.C. and other cities across the nation in hope to use their voices and common cause against Donald Trump and into more progressive policies. For the third year in a row, marchers are going to rallies in Washington’s Freedom Plaza, New York, and many more places. The first Women’s March occurred in January, 2017 as a form of resistance to Trump’s election, and at the begin of 2018, the movement shifted to focus on midterm elections. This year in specific, organizers say that the marches not only serve to commemorate victories for the Democratic Party women of color in the midterms, but also to push for more progressive laws that can assure greater protection for women across race, class, and sexual orientation. This agenda includes aspects such as including immigrants rights, violence against women, civil liberties and rights, as well as climate change.
Some of the scheduled speakers are New York City first lady Chirlane McCray, women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem, and US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who’s strong advocacy for more progressive policies has made her a very high profile Democrats in the House. She stated that “all of these women are coming together in solidarity with each other, to support each other and to make sure that every single voice is amplified, protected and advanced in the United States of America” (CNN).
Overall, I think that these marches demonstrate some of the concerns about diversity and inclusion that have affected various groups and individuals across the country. The demonstrations allow for people to come together and share their common hopes for the future, and try to positively influence policymakers when debating new legislation. This event connects to both world history and international relations because people not only in the U.S., but also around the globe participate in these marches, raising the question of what pressing policy conflicts need to be addressed.
1. In your opinion, are these nation-wide marches effective in influencing future policy?
2. Do you believe that this year’s women’s march could bring more attention to the presidential election of 2020? Explain.
3. How could the open backlash against Donald Trump and his policies voiced in the women’s marches affect his chances at reelection?
Link to article: https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/19/us/womens-march-nationwide/index.html
I definitely believe that this year's women's marches brought and will continue to bring more attention to the upcoming 2020 election. Especially with democrats such as Kamala Harris recently announcing her campaign efforts, I think that these women's marches display that inequality and the #MeToo movement are still extremely real and are issues we want our president to address, not push under the rug. With these marches comes awareness, and if presidential candidates aren't addressing these issues and ignoring them, I think it will greatly affect their campaign.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, the participation of the women's march has gone down after the initial march in 2017, but even with numbers going down I think that the impact is still there. A large reason the past marches have been attended more, but I think it is largely because women's rights were threatened with the context of the last marches were when Trump was first elected, and the 2018 one was during the start of the #metoo movement. I went to the 2019 march in San Francisco and while many of the speeches were about policy change and how to create change for equality, a big part of the march was the community. The women's march is a tool that I think empowers women when people see strong female figures acting for change and supporting one another to be the best they can be. I don't think a lot of opinions would change because of the women's march because I think many people already have formed their political opinions if they decided to attend or support the march in the first place, but I do think that it does bring the issue of gender equality to light as well as other injustices the word is facing.
ReplyDeleteI full heartedly agree with Samantha, but to somewhat bring up another point, I was thinking that the Women's March could be, unfortunately, making itself less impactful. Since it looks like it is becoming an annual event, it could become normalized. I don't know if this is true and I don't want it to be true, but like Sam said, attendance has been going down. I think that another type of form of assembly could restart that flame. I'm really not sure if there is something to help it, but I'm all for the March continuing. While it probably doesn't affect those who already have their beliefs in place, it may affect those who are still forming their political opinions. They will see that so many people are standing up for what is right and that will impact their sense of right and wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think that these nationwide women’s marches are effective in gaining media attention and making people more aware about relevant issues involving policies and women’s rights, but at the same time, it is hard to influence future policy when people already have their opinions made up in their minds regarding gender equality and women’s rights. Especially since a large nationwide women’s march only happens annually, it is difficult to make a significant impact when there is only one organized event a year. However, I do think that women’s marches will bring more attention to the next presidential election since many people want to further progress women’s rights so it is important that future candidates attempt to gain the support of a significant proportion of our population that supports the women’s rights and #MeToo movements.
ReplyDeleteI believe that these nation-wide marches bring a substantial amount of attention towards relevant concerns within our society today. I initially had similar beliefs to Maia, in that creating an annual routine out of the Women’s march may lessen its impact by normalizing the action rather than making it a refreshing or surprising event for the media to capture. However, I now think repetition itself still has power by demonstrating the persistence of a group of citizens who insists to have their voices heard. Along the lines of what Sam mentioned, the Women’s march would continue to create a strong and unified community, ensuring that people have a regular opportunity to have their voices heard and to respond to the drastically changing nature of politics today. I also believe the march could direct more attention towards the 2020 presidential election by strengthening the support and legitimacy of more liberal candidates. This is especially prevalent as the US has been seeing a substantial increase of women in government both through the high representation in the midterms and the highly qualified candidates running in the coming presidential election.
ReplyDeleteI think that the Women's March is overall beneficial, however, as previous comments gave stated, there is a fear that it can draw out the cause too much to where people only see it as another march without recognizing the cause issues behind it. I think that these marches are the most beneficial and impactful after a big event, the 2016 election being an example where people marched for the rights and respect of women they felt were in jeopardy. I think that this year's Women's March celebrated the power of women and this can definitely impact the 2020 election as people will be exposed to and hopefully embrace the idea of a woman president. With a larger amount of women who have announced their candidacy, marches and other acts to enhance the power of women can help them to have a strong base for support.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Women's march is a great way for people to stand up for what they believe in and speak out against the injustices faced by women and minorities in this country. However, most successful movements have worked not only from activism, but from advocacy as well. It is important that actual legal movements work tangent to the protests of the people. The complexity of the situation arises from the reality that there is no longer de jure discrimination, but rather de facto. The real question is, how can we change the status quo if not through law? The women's march is part of the demonstration that society's mindset must change.
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