Time's Up, Mr. President: The Second Annual Women's March
On January 20th, 2018 many gathered in rallies all around the United States and the world to protest against the Trump Administration's policies and urge women to bring "power to the polls."
On the anniversary of the Women’s March, thousands of people all around the world once again took the streets to fight for their rights. Only this time, it wasn’t exclusively in the United States. Solidarity marches were held in all 50 states and all around the world in six continents. The event locations spanned from New York City to Birmingham, Alabama, and even included an event held here in Madrid, which many IE students attended.
The original Women’s March was held on January 21st, 2017 in Washington D.C., the day after President Trump’s inauguration. One year later, the 'Me Too' movement has gained popularity and many respected figures are calling for women to share their experiences and speak out against sexual harassment. In 2017, over 51 men in Hollywood and Washington have been brought down due to discovered sexual misconduct. This includes Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Charley Rose, Kevin Spacey, and Al Franken.
Roy Moore seems to have the most notable story, because he was backed by President Trump during the Senate election after being an accused child molestor. He then lost to Doug Jones, who became the first Democrat elected in Alabama in 25 years.
This, among many other discoveries of sexual misconduct, has caused people’s movement to lean towards the objective of removing these people from positions of power, which was the theme of this year’s protests. Some of the most notable posters spotted during the rallies included those saying: “When they go low we vote them out” and “Women brought you into this world and women will vote you out of it.”
President Trump took to twitter in order to respond to these protests. He attempted to change the purpose of these rallies by calling them a celebration when he tweeted: “Beautiful weather all over our great country, a perfect day for all Women to March. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!”
Fox News followed this attempt by tweeting a picture of the rallies with the caption “Since @POTUS took office, 863,000 new jobs were filled by women. Over half a million American women have entered the workforce since he took over.”
President Trump has previously been accused of sexual misconduct by over 19 women, many of which were part of the Miss Universe pageants that he previously owned. Although he has denied all of these allegations, many believe them to be true. This is mostly due to the infamous Access Hollywood tape that came out during his presidential campaign in which he brags to Billy Bush about being able to “grab [women] by the p*ssy,” because of his fame and money.
Posters present during the protests included phrases like: “one year later and you still can’t grab my p*ssy", “my body my choice”, “well behaved women rarely make history”, “feminism is the radical notion that women are people,”and “men of quality do not fear equality." Another popular poster around the globe was one saying “nevertheless, she persisted.” This was a movement that began when Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced on the Senate floor while attempting to read Coretta Scott King’s letter during Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing, which was followed by her male colleagues being allowed to read the same exact letter. Many other posters directly targeted the president with calls for impeachment and simple mockery of his presidency.
It looks like time’s up, Mr. President. In the words of Oprah Winfrey, “a new day is on the horizon.” Women are speaking out and this time they will not be silenced.
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