The third annual Women’s March was held today at Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando. Crowds gathered around to watch the Martin Luther King parade and join the "Truth to Power" march afterwards.
Speakers at the event talked about issues relating to race, violence, religion and disability. Most notably, Florida’s first elected African American state attorney, Aramis Ayala, spoke about reforming the criminal justice system’s treatment of incarcerated women.
“Good or bad, there are consequences to our actions,” she said. “But freeing our sisters is not freeing them from the consequences of their actions. It’s freeing them of the objectification, the abuse, the abandonment that is all too often trivialized or justified to meet the male agenda. A woman’s status as a human being is never to be negotiated.”
Although the main goal of the Women's March is to raise awareness of women’s issues, it is also a time to celebrate the accomplishments made so far both in the United States and around the world.
It's been a historic year for female elected officials, with more women in government positions than in the past. In the House of Representatives alone there are now 102 women serving, as opposed to 87 in 2017.
Globally, women gained the right to legally drive in Saudi Arabia, Ireland legalized abortion, and the #MeToo movement gained even more momentum.
“It’s important for sisters to lift each other up,” said Nakita Johnson, an attendee at the march. “We have so much working against us right now, so it’s really important for us to get together and make our voices heard and to show that we do have the power.”
– Elizabeth Gondar
