On the Women's March

Lately, there has been much controversy surrounding the Women's March movement that has made the news recently in the wake of the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump. Some of the questions surrounding the movement have centered around the platform for the movement and its timing. In this posting, I make the argument that this movement has been more than just an anti-Trump protest and deserves a closer look.

The basic platform for the Women's March movement (see link below for further information) serves to bring together multiple marginalized groups from women to immigrants to the LGBTQAI community underneath an intersectional human rights perspective. Basically, the latter perspective recognizes that various social statuses, from gender to race to sexual orientation intersect and overlap to produce varying and unique situations of discrimination that could be addressed through guaranteed rights for every person in such areas as healthcare or education. Ultimately, this means that multiple causes have been brought in under the umbrella of the Women's March movement, from union rights to environmental protection.

Therefore, while the Women's March can be perceived and subsequently dismissed as merely a liberal, anti-Trump protest movement, there is more at play here. Yes, protesters are concerned about the recent election of Trump and similar figures around the world. Yet, this movement is not about being against any single person per se, but rather being against the mainstreaming of toxic ideas that have plagued the United States and countries around the world and tend to harm everyone (and not just the group being targeted). Protests around the world show that these concerns aren't tied to a specific national context.

In the end, what the Women's March participants have in common is being against giving credence to and reinforcing discriminating ideas that serve to elevate certain groups at the expense of putting down some groups (such as women and LGBTQAI persons) in the process.



Link to the Women's March official platform:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/584086c7be6594762f5ec56e/t/58796773414fb52b57e20794/1484351351914/WMW+Guiding+Vision+%26+Definition+of+Principles.pdf