Last month, D.C. police issued a permit for a gathering of women from across the country — perhaps as many as 200,000 — at Independence Avenue and 3rd Street SW on Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. But it is not clear exactly who is organizing the event, how long it will last nor exactly what will happen. Will it be a protest? A march? A demonstration?
The event took off, seemingly spontaneously, in response to a Facebook page created by retired Hawaiian lawyer Teresa Shook on election night, which saw the defeat of the first female presidential nominee of a major party. Shook called for protests by women across the nation. In Washington, D.C., that call triggered a decision by a loose coalition of women activists to organize what’s now being called the Women’s March on Washington.
More than 100 liberal activist organizations have signed on as Women’s March partners, including MoveOn, LGBTQ advocacy organization Human Rights Campaign, the NAACP and the Sierra Club. They represent issues such as reproductive and equal rights for women, gun control, police reform and voting rights.
The Woman’s National Democratic Club will host a pre-march breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. at its historic mansion near Dupont Circle. A woman’s empowerment activity is planned from 2 to 6 p.m. as a follow-up to a “Girls Empowerment Reception,” to be held at the club Jan. 20 from 6 to 9 p.m.
“We see this as the start of a wave of activism on the left, much as the conservative Tea Party began as a grass-roots movement,” Janaye Ingram, the march’s head of logistics, told USA Today. The Tea Party, however, coalesced around reducing government spending and lowering taxes.
What impact the broad coalition of passionate female advocates for various issues will have on Trump’s national agenda is unclear. There is no doubt that many women activists feel besieged. The basic message of the march may just be: “We’re watching.”
