Betsy Robinson

The Point of the Women's March? This seems to be a question, so I'd like to answer it personally:

I marched in the first women's NYC movement in 1970 and vividly remember red-faced men on the sidelines screaming, "Get back in the kitchen where you belong." It was scary. I was 19 and was there because two "older" women at the company where I was an intern ordered me to come with them. Many of us were angry, but only in correlation to how scared we were.

When I marched on 1/21/17, it was an epiphany, an ecstatic event. I learned that everything had indeed changed for the better. I was not scared; I was elated. Police wore pink hats, smiled, and were helpful. The crowds were humongous and peaceful. The world joined this march. It was not merely a march to protest Trump's misogyny. It was not merely to fight for women's equal pay, right to determine what our bodies will and will not do, or any other single issue.

The 1/21/17 Women's March was a global event, signaling that women, and the men who now support equality and fairness, had had enough and were activated. The 1/21 march was a global movement to infuse all of us with the knowledge that we are not alone, and that we are in fact quite powerful. The 1/21 march was like a dormant rocket being detonated and launched. I'm sure for some people it will be a one-time event; they are not ready for daily actions, for wholehearted political activism. But for those on the once-dormant rocket, we are launched!