So, what's next? The fact that millions of people marched across the country the day after Donald Trump's inauguration sent a powerful message to the new president. But many were also left wondering what happens next and how to remain engaged in the months and years ahead. We asked several women at the march in Washington DC what they plan to do under a Trump presidency to keep the spirit of the march alive. Here's what they had to say.
"I'm Egyptian, and I think we as minorities can introduce ourselves to people who don't understand us and show them who we are. As an Arab-American and a Muslim-American, I feel like a lot of people haven't met Muslim-Americans — if I introduce myself, maybe they'll understand that we're normal just like them. We have the same goals and objectives: you want to be able to eat, you want to be able to feed your family, you want to be happy, you want to be free. There's nothing else there that makes us different.
I'm also here as a photographer and documentary filmmaker. As long as we continue to use our voice, whether it be in protest, in photo essays, or films . . . these things shed light."
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Sadie Michel (left) and Olivia Lansing (right), both age 15, from Alexandria, VA
"It was really tough not being able to vote, to kinda see it happen without being able to do anything, but being here, I know I am a part of it and I am doing something.
People are constantly telling us [as teenagers], we don't understand, we're so hooked to our phones, but I think this generation, we're very open-minded and ready for change, and we use social media to do that.
I'm a firm believer that all women no matter what should have the same rights, so I'm starting a club at school and I'm getting a lot of ideas for it here. It's about women's rights. The biggest thing is getting teens involved who don't really understand what feminism is. I just got the paperwork in and I'm waiting for the county to approve it."
— Sadie Michel (pictured at left)
"We're definitely underestimated [as teenagers], but I think we can do a lot.
I want to keep doing things like this and spreading awareness on social media. She's [Sadie] starting a club at school about stuff like this that I'm going to join."
"There's a huge fear that things like this come along, everyone gets together for a cause, and afterward you just don't know what's going to happen, and it's scary. But I feel like each individual themselves can just be better to each other — whether it's women, men, transgender people, whatever it is — you have to take it upon yourself and just be good to be people."
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Siouxsie Q., the age “where you don’t say anymore,” from Los Angeles, CA
"Don't shut up, ever. I write for SF Weekly in a column called the Whore Next Door and it's technically a sex column, but I was able to write about feminism and the election. More than ever it's so critical to use whatever platform you have — social media, Facebook, the newspaper, a blog, a podcast, whatever it is, keep talking, don't shut up."
"I'm former Obama appointee to the Department of Agriculture. I was grieving this week. I was sad, I cried. I felt like President Obama ensured that everyone — disabled, black, white, gay, everybody — had a seat at the table. Trump doesn't.
I was listening to Michael Moore's speech [at the march in DC] about being more civic minded, and I know I can do more of that. I can call my congressman and my senator. I can mobilize people in my area, and I think one of the things that is very important is to have discussions with people that have different views than me and to be able to understand each other."
"I work with a group of artists and we try with our artwork to express our rights and liberties and use that platform as a tool to reach out to other people. My friend has a feminist line called Hissy Fit and I have a project called Screaming Horses. Art is my tool to be able to reach and connect with other people and unite us."
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Amanda White (left), age 34, from Philadelphia, PA
"I'm a fifth generation Muslim and I plan to keep marching. There are some scheduled in my city for next week and we will just keep going till Trump acknowledges what he's done and said is wrong. That's all we're looking for, is acknowledgment."
"I want [Trump] to know that I'm going to keep supporting women's and immigrant rights. My parents are immigrants — I immigrated myself from Korea when I was five in 1996. They worked really hard to get where they are now. My mom sacrificed a lot to have her own business and it's small but she's very successful.
For me, keeping the spirit of the march alive starts with my co-workers who couldn't make it. I march for them. I wish we could do something like this march every month so it stays fresh, so the energy of everyone today would stay fresh."
"I go to law school and I come from a family of immigrants. I work for the Public Defender Service and I do a lot of Black Lives Matter marches; I fight for women's rights and climate change, too. I'm going to try and change the world one step at a time by going into public defense. Human rights for all."
