Time's Up!

Taylor Sikora

Op Ed week 4

Time’s Up!

The #MeToo and more recently Time’s Up movements have gained substantial ground and have attracted a lot of attention in the media and all around the world. We have seen women come forward regarding sexual harassment and assault, women in positions of power and those who have large platforms call out their bosses for not receiving equal pay. This last year has been a very good start for women and our rights, but it is imperative that women do not slow down and that all around the world, women and men come together to keep the movement going.

This past Saturday millions of people turned out for the Women’s Marches to protest the President’s inauguration, and other recent events that happened over the past year. Within the rallies and marches this last Saturday many of the speakers urged women to go to the polls and vote in Democrats. I think it is important that women not only go to the polls and vote for Democrats but go to the polls and vote for who they think will represent them and their needs to the best of their ability. With midterms coming up it is also important that women encourage women to run for political office. There are many institutions that help women run for office, including Emily’s List, She Should Run, and National Federation of Republican Women just to name a few. Emily’s List runs trainings for Democratic pro-choice women ready to wage and win campaigns that pit them in office and empower them to drive change. Since 2001, Emily’s List has held over 200 trainings for over 9,000 women. Since their founding they have helped elect over 100 pro-choice Democratic women to the House, 23 to the Senate, 12 to governors’ seats, and hundreds of women to state and local office. Tammy Duckworth, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren are just a few of the hundreds of women to receive support from Emily’s list. Several speakers at marches all around the country also urged women to run for political office as well. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D- California) took the stage with other legislators in Washington on Saturday. She praised women all around the country for launching campaigns, many of them their first ones. On Saturday, she praised how “They marched, and now they have run for office, and some of them have already won their office,” …” We want women to know their power in so many respects – by showing up not only on the day of the march, but in airports, in town halls.” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D- New York) added, "It’s women who are holding our democracy together in these dangerous times,” … “To change the system, we need to change the players and have women at the table.” Many legislators and activists took the opportunity to speak at these rallies and marches to give a call to action. A small example of why we need more women in Congress is because they get things done. In 2016, a blizzard caused only female lawmakers to show up at the Senate, and when the government was on the brink of a shutdown in 2013, the 20 female Senate members brought the two parties together. So many laws regarding “women’s issues” are being primarily decided by men, which is quite a big problem.  The marches and rallies were the perfect stage to give a call to action to women who want to empower women and give women equal rights, and continue to give them a voice.

When supporting organizations such as those previously mentioned we address the concerns of many women that were expressed regarding the events that took place this past weekend. Some women believed that the marches were too focused on electing Democrats, at the expense of other issues; they wanted the movement to be more inclusive of people of color and other marginalized groups. While others did not feel it had the right atmosphere surrounding the march. Nadya Agrawal, joined the big rally in Washington last year and said that it just wasn’t what she thought it would be. She said that “it felt more like a commiseration rather than the start of a lot of work.” Other women felt that these marches should stop being organized until they decide what they are going to do the other 364 days of the year. I think that these marches are a good source of publicity for the movement and women’s oppression. While all the wrinkles may not be ironed out at least we have women of all kinds coming together. These marches give those with a following a platform to call women to action whether it be to vote, run for office or just to march in solidarity.