Women’s March on Washington (and Elsewhere): What to Watch For

Who’s going? What do participants care about? The “guiding vision” for the march is almost as extensive, and as jargon-laden, as any platform thought up by the Democratic or Republican parties. In addition to reproductive rights, the topics covered include racial justice, L.G.B.T.Q. rights, the environment, wage equity, gender equity and immigrant rights. Continue reading the main story Advertisement Continue reading the main story The march, which evolved from a call to protest posted on Facebook after the election, has brought out some of the fissures in the women’s movement, between generations and among women of different racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds, and the organizers say they have tried to bridge those. In its early stages, the march was criticized for being spearheaded by white women. They were seen as harking back to feminism’s roots in the self-actualization of white middle-class women, who were bored with domestic life and asserted their desire to work outside the home and compete with men. But younger women took a more expansive view of feminism. The rally will include a range of speakers and performers cutting across generational lines: Cecile Richards, Angela Davis, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Moore, the Mothers of the Movement (Sybrina Fulton, Lucy McBath, Maria Hamilton, Gwen Carr), Ms. Monáe and the Indigo Girls.