Women's March on Washington

"Who runs the world?  GIRLS!"  Beyoncé Knowles sang these four simple yet powerful words at the beginning of her 2011 hit "Run the World".  The song vigorously promotes female empowerment.  The idea of female empowerment has been an extremely important topic in the past several years and has especially skyrocketed since the election of Donald Trump in November 2016.

The recent inauguration of President Trump brought thousands of people together all over the country to march for women's rights.  President Trump has a long and controversial history of misogynistic behavior, from claiming that he is entitled to grope women (which lead to many women coming forward with stories of alleged sexual misconduct) to relentlessly insulting Megyn Kelly, Carly Fiorina, and Hillary Clinton.  His election to the presidency has concerned many women's rights activists about how his personal behavior and views of women will affect his legislation while in office.

Photo credit to Rachel Emmons

As observed through the civil rights movement, the sufragette movement, or even the very foundations of our country, one of the best ways to get your point across in the United States is to protest.  One of the rights granted to the citizens in the Bill of Rights is the right to peacefully assemble, which has been used more and more in the past few years.  On January 21, the day after President Trump's inauguration, a different type of gathering was held in Washington, DC and in cities around the United States and the world.

Photo credit to Rachel Emmons

As mentioned in a New York Times article, the event started as a Facebook post shortly after the election.  Soon, hundreds of thousands of women flocked to the social network site to make their voices heard about President Trump's treatment of women.  People came out in enormous numbers; nearly 500,000 people marched in Washington, DC, while Chicago's crowd numbers were so much larger than originally anticipated, they had to cancel the march after the rally (but people marched anyway).

Penn State freshman Anelia Slavoff attended the march.  In response to inquisitions about her experience, she said, "Participating in this march was easily the most inspirational and moving experience I’ve had in my life.  I was surrounded by women and men, their ages ranging from toddler to elderly, that were all gathering for the same reason: to advocate for equality.  There was a very positive attitude in DC on that day, and there was never a moment I felt any negativity or threat from the people who were gathered.  Even though we were packed in hot subways, waiting in incredibly dense crowds, and experiencing what would typically be considered an unpleasant day, people were still singing in the metro and chatting excitedly with the people standing next to them.  It was a unifying experience for people around the country and world, and I believe it has potential to bring about real change.  My main motive in going to DC was to make my voice heard by a government that I fear won’t listen, and I truly believe we made our point heard on January 21st during our widespread peaceful protest."

Anelia Slavoff at the 2017 Women's March in Washington, DC

A movement within the Women's March was the Pussyhat Movement.  As aforementioned in the article, in 2005, Donald Trump was recorded on tape saying that he felt as though he could grope women because of his powerful position.  The response?  Thousands of women knitted "pussyhats", pink hats shaped like cat ears to slyly mock Trump's use of the word in the recordings.  The goal was to use the hats to express the demand of equal rights.

Pussyhats watching the news in L'Enfant Plaza
Photo credit to Rachel Emmons

Although President Trump did not attend any of the marches, he did take to Twitter to express his opinions on the march:

From Donald Trump's official Twitter

Although, after some time (and most likely consultation from some people close to him), he took to twitter with a different tone:

From Donald Trump's official Twitter

Even though the march was an overall success, the march was not well-received by everyone.  Television and online video host Tomi Lahren didn't hold anything back as she told her Facebook, Twitter and YouTube followers what she thought of the Women's March on Washington.  Other people who opposed the Women's March took to Facebook and Twitter with various memes about how women truly fighting for rights were the ones in the army and that women in America do have all of the rights they claim to want.

Photo credit to Rachel Emmons

So, what do you think?  Were the people marching justified, or was there no real reason for a march?

To view more of Rachel Emmons's work or get in contact her, please visit rachelemmons.com