The morning after Donald Trump took office as the 45th President of the United States, more than half a million Americans took to the streets of Washington, D.C. in a massive peaceful protest. 

The Women’s March on Washington was created to give Americans a platform to share their thoughts and concerns regarding the new Trump administration. According to the website for the Women’s March on Washington, issues including reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, equal pay, affordable healthcare and climate change were among the main concerns protesters wanted to address as they marched through our nation’s capital on Jan. 21. Marchers also attacked Trump’s use of offensive rhetoric on the campaign trail and in other professional aspects of his life. Protesters made it clear that just because he was elected to office, does not mean that they have forgotten the abhorrent language that Trump has used habitually to describe women. 

In addition to the march on Washington, millions of people across the globe attended sister marches in solidarity with the message the initial march intended to send; the message that the issues that affect women, affect us all. Perhaps the most significant issues concerning American women are reproductive rights and access to affordable health care. 

During his campaign, Trump supported the defunding of Planned Parenthood and his Vice President Mike Pence has been a longtime opposent of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that granted American women the right to a safe and legal abortion. Access to safe and affordable reproductive care is a right that American women have fought to have for over a century. The Trump administration is actively working to turn back the clock on reproductive rights by deconstructing the policies and organizations that work to uphold them. 

This is why the women’s marches were so significant. They made it blatantly clear that American women refuse to go back to the days when they were not afforded a choice.  Generations of Americans have worked to make America a place where women could have the same opportunities as men and that equality begins when women have the ability to control their own bodies.

Women marched on Washington to make sure Trump knew that they refuse to surrender themselves to his agenda. Perhaps the biggest statement was made when the rest of the world stood firmly behind them.

Among the hundreds of thousands of protesters marching on Washington was Oswego State sophomore Katie Gordon.

Gordon, along with a group of family members and friends, attended the march to take a stand for the issues that she feels warrant attention under the new presidency. Although it was clear that her purpose was not to attack Trump, but to voice support for American women.

“For me it was really about celebrating all of the strong women in my life, and it sort of felt like a preparation for a movement to come over the next four years to at least work to ensure that our rights aren’t being taken away and that we’re protecting the things that matter to us.”

Gordon exemplifies the peaceful attitude that seemingly unified the multitudes of Women’s Marches held across the globe. These marches were not about anger; they were about strength, unity, and resistance. Resistance against oppression, resistance against hate, and resistance against a country in which women are not afforded the same liberties as men. As Gordon went on to say, “It was about just standing up and saying ‘hey, we’re here, we’re strong, we’re women, and you can’t mess with us.’”