Following the historic Women's March on Washington that took place in cities across the globe this past weekend, someone close to me said something that really struck me. They said, "Why does this matter now? The election has already been decided." This comment impacted me in ways that are hard to convey in words, but I will try.
The Women's March matters now more than ever because we just watched someone who glorified sexual assault get sworn into the most important job in the free world. I have always thought that if someone treated women with such disrespect, such lack of human decency, that that person would be shunned for their barbaric and inhumane behavior. However, that is not what happened in this situation. Despite Donald Trump's sexist, misogynistic behavior he was still elected President of the United States.
This situation leads me to believe that we are not a nation that has come as far as we thought we had in terms of gender equality. Unfortunately, this election has shown me that our country is much more sexist (and racist) than I had originally thought.
So to anyone that says women have already achieved equal rights, I would argue that we still have a long way to go.
In the coming months, huge decisions will be made in this country concerning Planned Parenthood, birth control, and abortion. It terrifies me that there is even a possibility that those decisions could be made by a group of wealthy, older, white men who have had so much privilege in their lives simply because of the way they were born. A man who made a comment about groping women without their consent while knowingly hooked up to a microphone will be at the forefront of the decisions concerning the rights of my body. A body that he thinks he has ownership to simply because of his wealth. That is a scary reality to any woman in this country right now, and that is something that everyone who questions the Women's March needs to understand.
There is still so much that needs to be done in this country in terms of gender equality. In terms of human equality. The men in office will never, ever understand what it's like to be sixteen and going to their first gynecologist appointment, or experiencing their first bought of debilitating PMS (something that birth control helps) or dealing with the stress of a late period. And therefore, they have no right to be making any of the decisions regarding those things.
I was raised to understand that no matter where you come from or how successful you become, you should never treat people any differently than how you would want to be treated. That we are born with inalienable rights to decide what we want to do with our lives and our bodies and no one can infringe upon that. That despite our differences we are all brothers and sisters who should be supporting each other instead of marginalizing each other.
So yes, the Women's March does matter even after the election, now more than ever.
