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The Women’s March Is Back, With Both Divisions and Much to Celebrate Smaller Crowds Turn Out for Third Annual Women’s March Events
(about 4 hours later)
BOSTON — Weather reports showed a winter storm. And news reports spoke of infighting and controversy. But none of that stopped Miranda Compton and her daughter from boarding their flight on Friday to Washington from Georgia to attend the second anniversary of the Women’s March. WASHINGTON — Whether it was stormy weather, reports of infighting or the simple waning of interest over time, the third annual Women’s March events on Saturday attracted much smaller crowds than in years past.
“It’s my dream come true,” said Ms. Compton, a 49-year-old retired assistant high school principal from Lakemont, Ga., population 2,200. “For the first time in my lifetime, I don’t feel like the only feminist in my town.” In Washington, in a frigid marble plaza only blocks from the White House, early attendees seemed to be outnumbered by barkers hawking T-shirts and buttons.
Two years after millions marched around the country and the world in an unambiguous rebuke to President Trump, much smaller crowds appeared at Saturday’s events surrounding the second anniversary of the Women’s March. “I’m disappointed. It’s definitely not the turnout I was looking for,” said Peggy Baron, 53, a lawyer from Dublin, Ohio, who said that the first Washington march two years ago had been “wall-to-wall women.”
There was much to celebrate. The first march galvanized many women across the country to become politically active for the first time in their lives. Many poured their energy into helping to elect an unprecedented number of women to Congress last year. As the morning progressed, throngs of marchers began to fill the plaza, and spirits visibly lifted.
But Saturday was also a test of how the Women’s March movement has weathered a storm of controversy in recent months. “I came two years ago. It’s definitely smaller, but the spirit is very much alive,” said Rachel Stucky, 53, an educator from Salem, Ore. She added: “The experience I had two years ago was indescribable. I wanted to feel that way again.”
The events around the country were partly a celebration of what has been achieved since the first march. An unprecedented number of women have been elected to Congress, many with the help of women who became politically active for the first time after marching in 2017.
But the gatherings were also a test of how the movement has weathered the storm of controversy in recent months. The New York-based leaders of the national Women’s March group that planned the first march on Washington have been under fire for allegations of anti-Semitism.
[Listen to the episode of The Daily on divisions in the Women’s March.][Listen to the episode of The Daily on divisions in the Women’s March.]
Tamika Mallory, co-president of Women’s March, the group that has planned the march in Washington, has been under fire for ties to Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, who is widely reviled for anti-Semitic speeches. The Women’s March has issued a series of statements denouncing anti-Semitism and apologized for its delayed response to the controversy. Tamika Mallory, co-president of Women’s March, has publicly praised Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, who is widely reviled for anti-Semitic speeches. The Women’s March has issued a series of statements denouncing anti-Semitism and apologized for its delayed response to the controversy, but Ms. Mallory has declined to denounce Mr. Farrakhan himself.
In Washington, Trish Klein, Jody Kanikula and Amy Hain from Chicago said they had an intense discussion about the charges of anti-Semitism before deciding to make the trip. Some marchers said they were conflicted about whether to come, given the controversy over the anti-Semitism charges. In Washington, Trish Klein, Jody Kanikula and Amy Hain from Chicago said they had an intense discussion before deciding to make the trip.
“We were conflicted,” said Ms. Hain, a 40-year-old sales director at a semiconductor company, on Saturday. “There’s always going to be some discussion of different views, and we didn’t want it to derail the bigger picture.” In the end, they chose to do it, because “apathy is not an option,” said Ms. Klein, a 39-year-old special education teacher.
Said Ms. Klein, a 39-year-old special education teacher: “Apathy is not an option.” The controversy over Mr. Farrakhan added to tensions that were already brewing between the national Women’s March group and some of the local activists around the country who planned marches in their own hometowns.
At the rally site, a frigid marble plaza only blocks from the White House, early attendees seemed to be outnumbered by barkers hawking T-shirts and buttons. On Saturday, those divisions manifested themselves in two rival marches in New York and two in Philadelphia.
“I’m disappointed. It’s definitely not the turnout I was looking for” said Peggy Baron, 53, a lawyer from Dublin, Ohio, who said that the first Washington march two years ago had been “wall-to-wall women.” In New York, some marchers said they had done research to decide which event to attend, but many said they merely went to whichever was more conveniently located. The march held by the Women’s March Alliance on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which advertised its opposition to anti-Semitisim, attracted a crowd that stretched about 10 city blocks, although there was ample space between the marchers.
But as the morning progressed, throngs of marchers began to fill the plaza, and spirits visibly lifted. About four miles south, in Foley Square, a rally planned by a group affiliated with the national Women’s March attracted a modest crowd.
“I came two years ago. It’s definitely smaller, but the spirit is very much alive,” said Rachel Stucky, 53, an educator from Salem, Ore. “It’s a chance to march, to be with others who are like-minded, to be able to express my energy. People have a lot of say, and that doesn’t change.” “I was worried that it was going to be small and it turns out it’s small,” said Donna McDonough, a 69-year-old registered nurse who traveled by train from Hamden, Conn. Noting the controversy, she said: “I think Mallory should unequivocally boycott Farrakhan but no one should boycott this march. She doesn’t represent the entire organization.”
“The experience I had two years ago was indescribable. I wanted to feel that way again.” In Philadelphia, where the two rival events were only separately by a few hundred yards, many marchers weren’t even aware of the difference between the events or didn’t care.
In New York and Philadelphia, rival events were being held — one backed by local organizers and the other backed by affiliates of the national group. The marches did not attract many high-profile national figures, although Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who recently announced she was running for president in 2020, appeared at an event in Iowa. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke at the Women’s March Alliance rally, and Representative Ayanna Pressley spoke in Boston.
On Friday, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida became the latest figure to distance herself from the Women’s March leadership. It is difficult to say how much the controversy depressed turnout.
“It should not be this difficult to condemn hate speech,” she wrote in an op-ed essay in USA Today. “This weekend, I will join a movement of women around the nation who are participating in local marches that have distanced themselves from those national Women’s March leaders who still ally with bigotry.” Even before the controversy, organizers of the Washington march debated the idea of trying to hold another big national demonstration, knowing it would be impossible to come close to the turnout of the first year, when more than half a million people gathered on the streets of the capital.
The controversy has further strained relations between the New York-based Women’s March group led by Ms. Mallory and local leaders who organized “sister” marches around the country without any connection to the national group. Some local leaders were already angry that the New York-based Women’s March filed a trademark on the phrase “Women’s March,” a move that appeared to be aimed at preventing them from using the name without permission.
Now local leaders say the accusations of anti-Semitism have made it more difficult to raise money and recruit marchers.
“This year has been incredibly difficult,” said Karen Cosmas, executive director of March Forward Massachusetts, which plans the marches in the Boston area. “First, to be clear about our distinction from national organizations. Second, to answer questions repeatedly about our own values because they are conflated with what four women in New York say and do.”
In Los Angeles, about 100,000 people are expected to show up and hear speakers who include leaders of the teachers’ union strike, Jane Fonda and Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of Gavin Newsom, California’s new governor.
“I do a see a little ‘march fatigue’ going on,” acknowledged Emiliana Guereca, executive director of Women’s March Los Angeles, who has marched twice in recent weeks in support of striking teachers. The controversy over Mr. Farrakhan, she said, has not helped.
In other parts of the country, the controversy has taken a deeper toll. In Washington State, women’s march organizers decided to close their chapter after Saturday’s march.
“We have decided to distance ourselves from Women’s March and to join another organization, Smart Politics, that will allow us to help everyone without biases or discrimination,” wrote Angie Beem, director of the board. “It is difficult for us to walk away from something that has literally changed our lives. But, we have to.”
Nonetheless, marchers began arriving in Washington, D.C., on Friday for the national march. Although the 2017 Women’s March logged more than one million riders on the Metro — the second-largest number in its history — a spokeswoman for the transit system said it was not planning for a deluge this time around.
“We’re operating our normal Saturday service,” said Sherri Ly, Metro’s media relations manager. “We’re not planning any additional service.”
Rally, the ride-sharing bus service that partnered with the Women’s March, said that 25 buses had been booked to ferry people from 46 cities to Washington, amounting to about 1,300 riders.
The permit approved by the National Park Service indicates that 10,000 people are expected.
It is difficult to say how much the controversy has depressed turnout and sponsorship. While much has been made of the absence of certain groups from the sponsorship list this year — the Democratic National Committee, the Center for American Progress and Emily’s List — none of those groups sponsored women’s march anniversary events last year.
Jo Reger, professor of sociology at Oakland University in Michigan, who studies feminist movements, said other factors that can depress turnout include activist burnout, and paradoxically, success.Jo Reger, professor of sociology at Oakland University in Michigan, who studies feminist movements, said other factors that can depress turnout include activist burnout, and paradoxically, success.
“Marches or movements can lose some momentum when people see some of their issues being addressed,” she said. “With the recent midterm elections, some may feel like the country is going in a different direction after the Trump election and that may lower the numbers participating.”“Marches or movements can lose some momentum when people see some of their issues being addressed,” she said. “With the recent midterm elections, some may feel like the country is going in a different direction after the Trump election and that may lower the numbers participating.”
But Ms. Compton, who traveled to Washington from her tiny town in northeastern Georgia, said the sense of excitement was only growing. She said the group of Democrats in Rabun County, where she lives, was nearly defunct in 2016, but has 300 members today. Some who marched in previous years said the controversy was just one more reason to stay home.
“We’re hopping busy all the time,” she said. “We came within a hair on a rat’s tail of electing a black woman as governor in Georgia.” Savannah Fritz, a 24-year-old supervisor at a homeless shelter who marched in Boston in 2017 and Philadelphia last year decided to sit out this year because she felt that the money spent on stages and portable toilets could be put to better use.
She said she had heard about the controversy around the Women’s March online but she didn’t dwell on it. “I obviously know that protests are an important part of social justice, but I just feel like the money would be way better spent actually combating the issues the Trump administration has created,” she said. The anti-Semitism charges, she said, also created a “major hesitation.”
“If we get busy in a bunch of petty fights, we get nowhere,” she said. “Not working together got us exactly where we are now and look what is in the White House.” Still, there was evidence on Saturday that the political events of the last two years had inspired a new level activism among many women.
Lori Clarke, 62, a retired schoolteacher from Bucks County, Pa., said the 2018 women’s march in Philadelphia was the first time she had attended a public protest.
“I’m just a normal everyday average woman,” Ms. Clark said. “I would never have thought of coming out to protest.”
“I hate crowds,” she added. “The reality of a Trump administration hit home, and I felt that I needed my voice to be heard.”
And in Washington, Hilary Ruesch, a 38-year-old marketing director for a wine importer, said she and others had traveled from Brooklyn to “come back to where it all began.”
They were members of a local chapter for the liberal grass-roots group Indivisible. The chapter has a mailing list of about 300 members, but in two years, the core of the group — the ones who could be counted on to do the grunt work of local political advocacy — had dwindled to about 50 people. “We’ve seen some attrition,” she said. But those who remain “are really dug in.”
And she said they played a small — but satisfying — role in the 2018 election that gave Democrats a working majority in the New York State Legislature, and in the subsequent lobbying campaign that ended this week with the Legislature’s vote to liberalize the state’s restrictive election laws.
“This time there are not as many,” Ms. Ruesch said of the march this year. “But it’s a long battle. And we still have all these people.”