After the wonderful marches around the world where women protested the highly misogynistic comments and attitudes from President Donald J. Trump, some people are comparing this event to the Occupy Movement in order to discredit it. This only shows how narrow the interpretation of the march is.
Most, if not all, social justice issues are taken apart and any nexus discarded. For example, when people advocate for immigrant rights, many assume a heterosexist mind-frame. When it comes to LGBT issues, the assumption is that all LGBT people are white. But what about the gay immigrant of color? This nexus tends to be ignored by society and, sadly, well-paid pundits.
Therefore, I was not surprised when I heard on the news that the Women’s March had no focus, and that all sorts of issues were brought up.
Fortunately, women are smarter than that.
Even though the Feminist Movement of the 60s and 70s focused only on the needs of white, middle-class women, we learned from that. Women now care about ALL women. Thus, police brutality against black people is relevant because it affects black WOMEN. LGBT issues are important because lesbians and transgender women are WOMEN. Immigration issues are important because they impact immigrant WOMEN. You get the point.
From the get-go the Women’s March was about all these issues.
We understand that we need to embrace all our sisters from all social groups. It’s important to point out that this is about all our sisters, and not just our cisters. Cingender women are not the only women who suffer discrimination because of their gender. One of the most common complaint among transgender women is that their pay goes down in a blink of an eye. ALL women suffer pay discrimination.
So no, the Women’s March didn’t lack focus. It didn’t lack unity. As a matter of fact, march participants were very well aware of the intersectionality of oppressions and their signs spoke of unity. Next time you hear that our march didn’t have an agenda, remember that this is not the case.
Women are looking at our issues holistically and we plan on advocating for ALL women, therefore all forms of discrimination are women’s issues. And we will continue to advocate for the eradication of any social ill that affects any woman.
