The Women's March on Washington and the sister marches were a huge success. Despite some controversy and backlash, experts believe that it may have been the largest protest in U.S. history, and with celebrities even marching, like John Legend, Madonna, Cher, and Alicia Keys, the protest received some well-deserved media attention. Photos of people's favorite signs are showing up all over social media, and images of the knit hats worn by many protesters are everywhere. It felt like a great day for women to have their voices heard during such a tumultuous time.
But the march didn't represent all women's issues.
This article isn't about those against the march. It isn't against the march at all, and I think people who opposed it need to think long and hard about their priorities. But there's an elephant in the room. That elephant is named intersectionality.
Oxford Dictionary defines intersectionality, a term created by Kimberlé Crenshaw, as "the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage." What that really means in terms of feminism is that few women only struggle with being women. Most face oppression in the form of racism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ableism, and more. Representing all women means marching for them, too.
One of the reasons why people consider the Women's March so successful was that no one was arrested. Some can claim it's because protesters remained peaceful, but realistically, it was probably also because it was a highly publicized march of people in social spheres that police rarely antagonize. There was media everywhere to report on misconduct, and while officers may have some prejudice against races and classes for contested reasons, white women rarely face that prejudice. That's certainly not those women's faults, but it showed the power that the marchers have.
If all feminists who marched in the Women's March had a grasp on intersectionality, they would be just as eager to march for other women facing different kinds of oppression. Being a woman and a feminist doesn't mean just protesting for your own benefit. It means marching for every woman. That means that I should see those women who marched on Washington also marching for their trans sisters, their indigenous sisters, their black sisters, their disabled sisters, and everyone else. Maybe we'd see less aggression between officers and protesters at places like Standing Rock and BLM marches.
The Women's March showed us the power of women, and that was inspiring. But it also showed us that many women don't support the movements of their sisters. That's something that needs to change.
