The 2024 Calendar designed by our graphics team features artwork of 12 people and events in women's and queer history. Our writing team have researched and produced a series of articles to highlight our featured artwork further. Starting off with The 2017 Women's March, which happened across the world on the 21st January 2017.
The start of a new year normally brings feelings of hope and optimism; unfortunately for women and people from marginalised groups in 2017 emotions were those of dread and concern as Donald Trump was inaugurated into office. Trump represented an administration seemingly hell bent on regressing the U.S back several decades, placing more control on women’s rights and their bodily autonomy. However, Teresa Shook, a grandmother from Hawaii, decided that this was a time for action, creating a Facebook group with friends inviting them to march on Washington in protest. After the invite was shared in the Pantsuit Nation group – a group supporting Hilary Clinton – news spread and sign ups for the March climbed into its thousands, with the March becoming an organised body. What followed was the organisation of a rally and March drawing numerous participants, dwarfing those at Trump’s inauguration the day before by about three times. The March, and its sister protests occurring in countries worldwide, saw a range of notable speakers, including Gloria Steinem, America Ferrerra, Janelle Monae, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris. Organisers stated that whilst the March was in no way an anti-Trump rally, its intention was to ‘send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights’.[1] The choice of words is deliberate: it echoes those of Hilary Clinton during a 1995 speech on women’s issues in Beijing. Indeed, Trump represented the antithesis of what Clinton’s administration would have been if she won, from the first female president to a president whose campaign promises included repealing the Affordable Care Act, defunding Planned Parenthood, and appointing U.S Supreme Court justices who were against abortion rights.[2] Attendants of the March on January 21st therefore marched against an administration that presented a threat to their rights and bodily autonomy.
The Women’s March detailed its commitment in its uniting policies, marching for ending violence against women, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, worker’s rights, civil rights, disability rights, immigrant rights and environmental justice. Whilst this shows an inclusive, intersectional organisation, the foundations of some of these promises were not completely solid. The support of reproductive rights, therefore being a pro-choice march, was thrown into question when the anti-abortion group ‘New Wave Feminists’ were granted partnership status, a questionable decision by the March’s organisers when Planned Parenthood was one of the premier partners of the March. New Wave Feminists were removed as a partner after their involvement was publicised in the American magazine The Atlantic. Whilst this showed organisers had recognised the contradiction of having both pro-life and pro-choice organisations as partners, their initial granting of partnership status to New Wave Feminists throws their fight for reproductive rights into question. The March also faced questions over their diversity at the beginning as it was mainly formed of white women. However, this was quickly amended by co-founder Vanessa Wruble who brought in women of colour to serve as national co-chairs, such as the social justice advocate Tamika Mallory, ensuring the organisation of the march going forward was informed with diversity in mind.
A major legacy of the Women’s March in 2017 is that of the Pussyhat Project. Created by Krista Suh and Jayna Zwieman, the idea was to create something women could physically see and hold – a material symbol of their frustration towards the Trump administration. The idea behind the project name and design of the hats are obvious, reclaiming the word ‘pussy’ against Trump who in 2005 had abused the word, stating he could ‘grab’ any woman ‘by the pussy’.[3] The impact the hats had upon the Women’s March and following marches was immense, with shortages of pink knitting yarn (the colour of the hats) being reported across the U.S due to so many being made. Many were worn by participants to represent those who could not attend, displaying their solidarity with the march despite their lack of physical presence. Whilst some activists argued the hats were too cutesy of a symbol to encapsulate the frustration and fear women felt about Trump’s presidency, Suh and Zweiman stated they were conversation starters, and refused the notion that a symbol of resistance had to be ‘plain’ or ‘serious’.[4] They were correct, the hats simple and bright design – easy to make and distribute – allowed women to unite in their protests and ensured a legacy of the Women’s March years later. Indeed, the fact that the Pussyhats are so prominent of an image allowed their integration into other parts of society - they can now be found worn on fashion runways and displayed in museums. They became a continuing symbol of the Women’s March and feminist activism, showing the success in creating a simple material symbol to get a message across.
Seven years after the first Women’s March in 2017, women’s rights and their concern over their bodily autonomy remains. The overturning of Roe v Wade by the Supreme Court a year ago serves as a prime example, with many women in America no longer being able to access abortions. Whilst Trump may not be in office anymore therefore, the legacy of the mainstream misogyny his administration perpetuated and its attempt to control women’s bodies lives on. However, what also remains is women’s fight to resist, as organisers of the Women’s March ensured the momentum of the rally didn’t slow down after 2017. After January 21st, the organisation published their campaign ‘10 Actions for the First 100 Days’ which encouraged local, small acts of activism to keep the momentum going. In October 2017, Wruble decided to bring organisers of the many nationwide Women’s Marches into a national coalition under the name ‘March On’. The organisation’s focus was to harness the energy of the original marches to ‘march’ voters to polling stations for the November 2018 midterms. The work of those behind the Women’s March has therefore continued, further evidenced by the organisation's website which shows a timeline of their work supporting women and marginalised communities. The momentum of the original Women’s March has clearly not slowed down, so whilst women’s rights to their own bodies may still be up for debate in many states, the fight to resist these archaic attempts persists.
Further Reading:
‘Our Vision’, Women’s March (2023) https://www.womensmarch.com/about-us [Accessed 20 November 2023]
Wendy L. Wilson, ‘Women Marching for Justice in a New Era: A Chat with Activist Tamika Mallory’, Ebony (2017) https://web.archive.org/web/20170122172604/http://www.ebony.com/news-views/tamika-mallory-womens-march-interview#ixzz4W8C7zxNe [Accessed 20 November 2023]
The Pussyhat Project (2023) https://www.pussyhatproject.com/ [Accessed 20 November 2023]
[1] Emily Crockett, ‘The “Women’s March on Washington,” explained’, Vox (2017) https://www.vox.com/identities/2016/11/21/13651804/women-march-washington-trump-inauguration [Accessed 18 November 2023]
[2] Kristen Jordan Shamus, ‘Pussyhat Project is sweeping nation ahead of Women’s March on Washington’, USA News Today (2017) https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/01/14/pink-cat-ear-hats-sweeping-nation-ahead-womens-march/96584374/ [Accessed 18 November 2023]
[3] ‘Transcript: Donald Trump’s Taped Comments About Women’, New York Times (2023) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html [Accessed 18 November 2023]
[4] Mattie Kahn, ‘The Pussyhat Is an Imperfect, Powerful Feminist Symbol That Thousands Will Be Wearing This Weekend in DC’, Elle (2017) https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/news/a42152/pussyhat-project-knit-protest/ [Accessed 20 November 2023]