The Women's March on Washington is an important time for women in the United States who are unwilling to be silenced by the leaders and lawmakers of our country. It's been the struggle of more than a century, as we think back to the famous Women's Suffrage Parade in 1913.
A lot of other Americans don't understand this sudden uprise in public activism and civil unrest. Some going so far as to say that we women in the U.S. have it so much better than a lot of women of other countries so why are we complaining? The people who say these things are painfully ignorant of the silent suffering that has been going on in American women's lives for decades. Women of the United States include women who are "immigrants of all statuses, Muslims and those of diverse religious faiths, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native People, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, [and] survivors of sexual assault." (Taken from the mission statement of the Women's March on Washington). The Women's March on Washington not only defends women of these backgrounds and identities, but all people who feel threatened by this country's leadership.
Some Americans look with disgust on this effort, thinking it is outdated, that women have the right to vote, what more do they want? Let's not go back to the 60s now... The problem is that a lot has changed but a lot hasn't. Women's bodies are still a topic of strong debate in the political arena. How ridiculous is it that we have two parties: one called "pro-life" and the other "pro-choice." This division is what is sorely outdated. No one is not "pro-life." If we didn't think life was important, women wouldn't be marching to protect the lives of the under provided-for people living in the United States. Being pro-choice is not meant to disregaurd life and motherhood, when it's not. In most other countries, a woman's choice is private, and birth control along with other aspects of women's care are protected as women's medicine.
The United States is 65th on the list of countries that pay equally for men and women's work. That's pretty despicable. The top five equally paying countries are: Burundi, Mongolia, Qatar, Thailand, and Malaysia. Yet, Americans refuse to admit that "their" women are not treated well, when they are denying them fundamental rights.
The Women's March on Washington has inspired almost 700 marches across the United States and other countries such as Canada, Costa Rica, Spain, Switzerland, and Georgia, and a lot more. If there wasn't a problem, we wouldn't be marching.
