As many of you have likely seen in the news, this past Saturday, January 21st almost 1 million women and allies participated in a March on Washington, with an estimated 4,834,000 marchers participating in Sister Marches around the world.
The mission of the Women’s March on Washington is as follows: “We stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families – recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.” The leaders of this historic social movement have outlined a mission, vision, guiding principles, and unity principles to clearly articulate what this bold statement stands for.
One key component of the mission states, “In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore.”
Women and allies showed up in numbers that no one could ignore on Saturday, January 21st, but that was just day one. Using the momentum gathered through the Women’s March on Washington and the Sister Marches across the globe, the National Committee has launched a campaign “10 Actions for the first 100 Days”. The idea behind the campaign resonated with a repeated chant from marchers on Saturday, “Welcome to your first day (referring to President Trump and his cabinet), we will not go away.” Every 10 days, the Women’s March on Washington National Committee will be calling for women and allies to support a different action, so that over a course of 100 days we can show our sustained presence in numbers that will be too great to ignore.
The campaign started with a call for the first action to write to senators. The Women’s March on Washington has created postcards that people can write on. It is now on us to spread the word, get writing, and prepare ourselves for the second call to action.
Madeleine Lee MSW Student
