Two Views of the Women’s March

Seattle Women’s March, 1.0

Like the name Black Lives Matter, the name Women’s March misleads some persons. These persons often see exclusivity only. But both groups have their names because society in so many ways throughout history has ignored what the speakers deem particularly important. Blacks and women have been here but for so long not represented on too many fronts; life, in varying degrees, is as if neither group was present. In response to someone who said he thought the march was for women only, I hastily responded that marchers represented many causes: voting rights, gun control, gerrymandering, money in politics, planned parenthood, education, housing, net neutrality, healthcare including drugs, alcoholism and mental health, Black Lives Matter, immigration, police brutality, climate change, LGBTQ rights, incarceration, environment. As soon as I finished, I wished I had taken longer because I wanted to add a few more causes.

The March is dubbed “Women’s March” because for so long women have been excluded from man-made decisions that affect women, the nation, the world. Consider that no women signed the Declaration of Independence nor helped write the Constitution of the United States. It took from 1776 until 1920, yes, 1920 for women to get the vote. Relying on Internet sources, I discovered the first woman to serve in Congress began her term in 1917; the first governors served in 1925; in 2006 and 2009, nine of our fifty governors were women; in 2018, 106 (79D, 27R) women hold seats in the United States Congress, comprising 19.8% of the 535 members; 22 women (22%) serve in the United States Senate.” (Depending on the source, women constitute 50.5% of the U. S. population.) Do you know how long Viagra has been covered by insurance? Do you know how long it took for insurance to cover birth control pills? Abortion? Who made these decisions? There was a time when the income of a woman of childbearing age was not considered when she and her husband attempted to purchase a house. (They had to purchase a less expensive house and, therefore, have less equity in that house now.) History books are filled with repression and suppression of women’s rights.

The intent of the March is to draw attention to these ills and correct them. The underrepresentation of women and their voices in local, state, and federal government accounts for the situation of wome