This year, the Women’s Marches will be different

The Women’s March that swept through Washington, D.C., the day after President Trump’s inauguration never ended. It has continued every January in various forms in various cities.

The national 2020 Women’s March will take place in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18. In North Carolina, women’s marches are set for Jan. 25 in Charlotte and Jan. 26 in Raleigh. Marches are planned in other North Carolina cities, including Wilmington and Black Mountain.

But this year the tone and tempo of the marches will be different. The first march came at the dawn of the Trump presidency; the fourth comes near the end of Trump’s first, and perhaps only, term. The demonstration will be less of a reaction to Trump’s election, the misogyny he represents and the broader policies and economic conditions that negatively affect women; it will be more of an assertion that women are indeed on the march, winning political office, fighting back against sexual harassment and wage inequality and shaping laws and policies that support women and families.

“This march is and isn’t about Trump,” said Jillian Riley, a volunteer with the Raleigh Women’s March. She said a desire to unseat the president will be part of the election-year event, but it will also be a celebration of progress made despite an administration opposed to much of the agenda championed by the Women’s March movement.

“2020 is going to be a good year,” she said. “We’ve seen women all over the U.S. take a leadership role in politics and in the community in a way we’ve never seen before.”

The 2018 midterm elections were called the “Year of the Woman” as a record number of female candidates sought seats in the U.S. House and Senate — 197 Democrats and 59 Republican candidates. As a result, the current Congress saw the biggest jump in female members since the 1990s — 106 in the House and 25 in the Senate.

As women have made gains in elected office, some wonder whether the grassroots activism represented by the Women’s March is on the wane. The leadership of the national march was split by infighting and this year’s event in the nation’s capital will take a lower key approach than the original event. There will be no stage or famous speakers. Instead there will be a week of smaller events leading up to a Jan. 18 walk from Freedom Plaza to the White House.

Turnout boost

In Raleigh, organizers expect that turnout for the event on Halifax Mall outside the Legislative Building will exceed expectations, in part because of frustration with the General Assembly. Women have made gains nationally, but a legislature led by conservative Republicans has blocked progress on issues important to many women in North Carolina, including Medicaid expansion, school funding, reproductive rights and gun control. It’s also notable that legislative leaders have balked at voting in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment at a time when North Carolina could be the potentially decisive 38th state to approve it.

The frustration with government at the state and national levels could make this year’s Raleigh march the biggest since 2017, when 20,000 people turned out. The march will step off at 1 p.m. and move to Halifax Mall for a program that begins at 1:30 p.m.

This year Raleigh organizers expect 5,000 to 10,000 people to attend, but the crowds have exceeded expectations for the past three years.

“There’s no telling how many people are going to come,” said Gailya Paliga, president of the N.C. National Organization for Women and a volunteer organizer for the Raleigh march. “But I have a good feeling.”

This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 12:00 AM.