Still Struggling for Equality: Women Activism in the Trump Era

Year 2022, Issue: 57, 71 - 92, 14.06.2023

Bilge Mutluay Çetintaş

Abstract

The beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency started with
largest single day protest on January 21, 2017 in Washington DC
and several other cities. Trump’s sexist comments and his stance in
reproductive rights had already caused concern. Dreading that their
hard-earned rights would be revoked, several women groups organized
an annually repeated Women’s March. These marches used similar, yet
creative new strategies of the 1970s Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
rallies. Protestors wore handcrafted pink pussyhats to present a unified
front, composed new songs with critical lyrics, rehearsed online, sang
the lyrics together with other well-known protest songs, and carried
creative banners that referred to debated policies. In time, the themes
and scope of these marches grew to encompass larger domestic and
international issues. A Women’s Agenda called for federal policies on
ending violence against women, reproductive rights, racial justice,
immigrant rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, disability rights, labor rights,
civil rights and liberties, and environmental justice. Thus, during the
Trump era women were reminded of their struggles in the 1970s from
which they drew inspiration and motivation while forming innovative
strategies to organize and create lasting influences on decision-making
processes.

Keywords

: Donald Trump, Phyllis Schlafly, Women’s March, Mrs. America, 1970s

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