Why I March

Since Donald Trump’s election in 2016 there have been countless Women’s marches across the United States and globally, seeing millions of people partaking in protest of his election, and more broadly calling for an end to gendered discrimination and disrespect towards women in all aspects of life. Following the 2016 election result, Teresa Shook, a Hawaiian women took to Facebook to encourage a pro-woman march. The concept was met enthusiastically with activists and organisations swiftly planning large scale events in major cities and towns worldwide. The first Women’s March took place on the 21st January 2017, the day after Trump’s Inauguration.

I took part in the 2017 March in London and have continued to march for the cause annually as well as the 2018 Procession March which celebrated 100 years of female suffrage. Women’s equality is not isolated as a women’s issue, and feminism is not a dirty word. I am always shocked when I attend talks like panel events concerning women’s empowerment and equality and see only a scattering of men in the crowd. We are not subjugating ourselves or gleefully paying ourselves less than our male counterparts, and thus we need men in these audiences engaging with the issues arising in order to enhance the speed and broadness of change.

In the recent 2019 Academy Awards, Period. End of Sentence directed by Rayka Zehtabchi won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short. It superbly highlights a huge issue for women, specifically in India in the documentary, but an issue prevalent to varying degrees around the globe that is the stigma surrounding menstruation. In essence, a period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education. I highly recommend watching it.

I march for countless reasons but below are my top 20 that I have personally experienced and don’t doubt innumerable other women around the world have as well. I hope these will give any male readers an idea of what every day life is like for a young woman in a first world country and how important it is to march and actively support gender equality and against sexist behaviour.

1. For being taught to scream ‘fire’ instead of ‘rape’ because people are more likely to come to your aid.

2. For being told to smile by a stranger.

3. For making the decision to put my headphones in to somehow create a barrier that non-verbally says ‘don’t disturb me, I don’t want to engage with you’, yet never put music on so I can still clearly hear words spoken at me, or encroaching footsteps.

4. For always being aware of my surroundings and if it is dark outside the risks associated with getting home registering in my head. Then power-walking home with keys braced in my hand and a can of spray deodorant up my sleeve. It gets dark outside 365 days a year…

5. For all the money spent on Ubers just so I didn’t have to walk home from the station late at night, yet still screenshotting the driver’s details in case of threats to my safety, harassment or assault.

6. For choosing clothing based on if part of my journey will be alone, and for fear of cat-calling, horn beeping and physical assault. Like wearing a longer coat rather than a jacket if I’m wearing a dress or skirt.

7. For being inappropriately touched on the tube by men who don’t think they’ll be called out on it.

8. Being called a bitch or slut/slag because someone has brought me a drink that I didn’t ask for, and do not want to entertain them.

9. Because some people don’t care if no means no. No, I do not want it, not then, not now, not ever.

10. For being in an emotionally abusive relationship.

11. For nearly being mugged twice in London because I’m 5 foot 1 and look like an easy victim for intimidating groups of men.

12. Being called ‘love’, or ‘dear’ by male clients or for being asked to pass the phone over to a male colleague.

13. For being rated out of 10 by men that would be unwelcome anyway.

14. For being a victim of manspreading and mansplaining and for being called a ‘bitch’ or ‘abrasive’ or ‘mean’ for calling them out on it.

15. Being told that swearing is unladylike, unattractive and unbecoming on a female.

16. For the card machine being automatically passed to the man I’m dining with.

17. For being told (in depth) how to check a fuse box by my male landlord without having stated I needed that help, or for the time when queuing correctly in the ‘business banking’ queue, male queuers felt the need to tell me that the ‘personal banking line is over there’, not fathoming that a woman could be business banking.

18. For risking being called a ‘bitch’ or ‘unfriendly’ if a guy sits next to me and starts a conversation that I do not want to be part of, but worrying that if I’m just my friendly self towards him, he’ll think I’m flirting and am interested.

19. For everyone who thinks the feminist label is unattractive.

20. Because I saw some American voters on news cameras declaring they would not vote for a female president because she ‘has hormones’, or because ‘that’s not her job to have that much power.’

#Trump #women #womensempowerment #march #protest #equality #sexism #menstruation #period