On January 18, 2020, I attended the Women's March with the Central Florida Chapter in downtown Orlando. It was held the same day as the Martin Luther King Parade. This is the third anniversary of the Women's March and like the first two, I expected to see crowds of women and men in pussy hats and carrying signs telling the establishment that women have rights too.

Sadly, I was disappointed. The turnout for this event was lackluster at best.

It wasn't like the weather could keep people away. Here in sunny Orlando, Florida, the temperature was in the 70s and the only way we could break a sweat is if we ran around Lake Eola. So, why was the turn out so disappointing? Could it be that there has been a break in the organization and we now have two separate organizations for the same event? On the 18th, the Women's March Florida – Central Florida Chapter got a spot in the Martin Luther King Parade and called out to all Central Florida women to come out and join. On the 19th the National Organization for Women: Orange County Florida Chapter had a march that started at the Orlando City Hall at noon.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that Women's March events across the country drew thousands of people, however, turnout was not nearly as high as the prior years.

The speaker line up included Rep. Anna Eskamani, Comm. Parry Sheehan, Lisa Hernandez, Brandon Wolf, and Tamika Lyles. Even though the Facebook page for the Women's and Allies March 2020 – Orlando stated they supported the Women's March on the 18th, they did not invite or ask the speakers to commit to both marches. As the nation was marching on the 18th it was going to bring confusion and obvious signs of growing pains to the men and women who want their voices heard.

I learned once the parade had ended and I watched the news to see how other marches went, that the turnout all over the nation was not as high as previous years. Yes, there have been some issues with the organizers, but that is no reason to stay home. I can understand if you live in the snow belt and marching on a Saturday morning might cause hypothermia, but during one interview a woman stated, it is the lack of change. That is a disappointing reason to give up and stay home. The suffragettes battled for over a decade to get the right to vote. In the 1960s through the 1970s women burned their bras and fought for women's equality by marching, attending sit-ins, and holding their elected politicians to their word.

It was a sunny, clear Orlando day and the small group of women and men that found their way downtown to March down Orange Avenue in the Martin Luther King Parade did it because they believe in equality. One speaker, Barbara Jane, is retired and a powerhouse when it comes to women's rights. She described her plans to retire until 2016 when the new administration took office and she knew she had to keep the protest going. She protests every week at Rubio's office and knows he may never address her issues, but that has not stopped her from going.

She is from the generation of women that know this isn't easy, there is no such thing as instant gratification when it comes to social change. As the states slowly take away women's rights in small increments, we all suffer. One state closes all the family planning clinics, and another creates a law that under-age women must have parents consent for an abortion. The generation that hasn't heard the nightmare stories of back-alley abortions, incest, or rape victims made to give birth to a child that becomes a ward of the state.

In 1923 the Equal Rights Amendment was proposed by the National Women's political party. Almost one hundred years later and we are still battling this issue. Now is the time for the women of this great country to stand up and say enough is enough.