Photo Diary of the Women’s March on DC: October 2020

This past weekend, I attended the Women’s March on Washington, DC. It was a perfect fall day, alive with the energy of more than a thousand marchers, there to express their distaste for how women are treated in this country and across the globe.

I marched with my mother and my boyfriend, taking photos of some of my favorite signs throughout the day. The images and writings below highlight some of the themes that were most prevalent throughout the day.

The Loss of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The birth of the modern “Women’s March” was in January 2017, on the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. These marches have continued on an annual basis each year since then, but this weekend’s Women’s March was out of the norm, taking place in the fall. Nonetheless, it was extremely powerful because it was planned in response to the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a strong proponent for women’s rights.

All around us, we saw signs referencing the “Notorious RBG” and how, now that she is gone, the imperative is on the public to carry on her legacy and support women’s rights.

A Message of Hope

I appreciated the opportunity to gather with so many women who are confident in our capabilities for change. Speakers at the rally before the march were clear that if we want to see change, women need to be at the forefront of leadership in our country. There is significant power in the collective voice of women.

For a long time in the United States, men were doing most of the governing, and women had to rely upon men to represent our views. With more and more women in office in the United States, we are able to represent ourselves.

One feature of the march that I did not anticipate was a wealth of solo walkers: people who were attending the march alone. Even then, many of these people — like the one pictured below — made it clear that they were marching on behalf of their own community of women.

The Importance of Intersectionality

Although it was great to see so many people at the march, I’d be remiss if I did not mention the fact that there was a very clear racial majority in this crowd: white women. Readers are likely familiar with the term “white feminism,” a type of feminism that fails to acknowledge the distinct differences in the experiences of women based on race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and other social factors.

As feminism becomes more and more accepted as commonplace among Americans, we must make sure our perspective on feminism is intersectional. Having a crowd of white women is not inherently bad, but having a crowd of white women who only care about women’s issues that impact them personally definitely is. Women of color, queer womxn, and women experiencing poverty face additional discrimination that white women will never have to face, and white women need to be allies in the fight against those injustices. Some other marchers also seemed to share this thought, holding signs that said “If you don’t march for all women, you march for no women.”

Gratefulness for the Privilege to March

During this pandemic, it has been easy to feel isolated from community and get caught up in the unending bad news cycle. With this, I was grateful for the opportunity to gather (in a distanced, masked crowd, no less!) this weekend to march with a group of like-minded people.

One final personal reflection: the photo below is of my mother, a white woman in her fifties. There were not a lot of people from my mother’s age group at the march — something that my mother noticed quickly. We solemnly discussed the fact that her demographic, white women from the baby boomer generation, is one of the key groups that led to Donald Trump’s victory in 2016.

Raised in a different time by conservative parents, my mother is an example of how nature can outweigh nurture. Her whole-hearted belief in human rights and the importance of caring for others is something that drives her to form her own beliefs about politics, regardless of how she was raised. She allows herself to be open to new perspectives, even if they are unfamiliar or hard to understand at first.

As my generation ages, I think we will realize that having this kind of open-mindedness will be more easily said that done. We are inherently inclined to hold onto our beliefs, but as younger generations come after us, we need to be open to their viewpoints to help us make change that can lead to a more just, equitable society.

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