Inspiring march
AFFORDABLE birth control. Equal pay for equal work. Full access to health care for transgender Americans. As recently as last summer, these seemed like achievable goals, backed by former president Barack Obama and championed by Hillary Clinton. Now, of course, Donald Trump is president, and what might have been items on Mrs Clinton’s agenda are tenets of the Women’s March on Washington, a protest to mark Mr Trump’s second day in office.
More than 200 000 people signed up on Facebook to attend the Washington march and over 1.5 million plan to attend one of hundreds of satellite marches.
Last week, the protest organisers released a platform of their principles, developed by a group of contributors, that include Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement; the author and transgender rights advocate Janet Mock; and Terry O’Neill, the president of the National Organisation for Women.
The platform calls for a broad range of reforms to address not only gender inequity, but also racial and economic inequality. It supports paid family leave; anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans; access to affordable reproductive health care; an end to the use of military-style weapons and tactics by the police in minority communities; a living minimum wage; immigration reform with a path to citizenship; and protection of the environment and public lands. That such mainstream proposals, to improve safety-net programs, protect constitutional rights and promote broad-based prosperity, are the subject of a protest manifesto is a measure of how much the political debate has changed.
The document is a valuable reminder of what once seemed possible and still could be realised. Among the groups sponsoring the march is Emily’s List, which supports female Democratic candidates at the local, state and federal levels. The day after the march, the group will hold a training session in Washington for women interested in running for office. Maybe the march will not only demonstrate support for ideals out of favour, but also inspire more people to enter political life.