Thousands to take part in Women’s March in Phoenix on Saturday
Jan 19, 2019, 5:00 AM
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
PHOENIX — Thousands of people are expected to take to the Arizona Capitol on Saturday for the third-annual Women’s March in the state.
The Women’s March began as a national protest in 2017 in response to the election of President Donald Trump, who made statements during his campaign that many perceived as anti-women or otherwise offensive.
In the age of the #MeToo movement that followed, the march represented a backlash to sexual assault and other forms of harassment that a majority of women experience on a regular basis.
After a record-breaking number of women were elected into the 116th Congress, organizer Eva Burch told KTAR News 92.3 FM that this year’s event will focus on taking that energy and bringing it into the Arizona Legislature.
“Something that we’re really focused on this year is celebrating all the successes we’ve had in this last election cycle and looking at what we can do to harness that energy, bring it into the new legislative session and show our new legislators the things we care about and the things that we continue to expect to see as part of the conversation here in Arizona,” she said.
The Women’s March in Phoenix will kick off around 10 a.m. with a series of speeches from speakers representing Indigenous, Jewish, Muslim, disabled and LGBT communities.
“We want to make sure that in a state that does continue to lean red (Republican) that these people have a voice and they’re being heard and we give them an opportunity to have a platform,” Burch said. “We want to represent underrepresented groups that don’t always have a voice.”
Last year’s march drew approximately 22,000 people to the Capitol. More than 3,300 people as of Friday responded to a Facebook page saying they would attend the event.
But Burch said she expects to see another large turnout this year.
“Something that we’ve been very lucky here in Arizona is we’ve had a lot of social engagement in this past year,” she said, pointing to the gun-control movement March for our Lives and #RedForEd, a protest calling for higher teacher pay.
“Those are a couple things we continue to try and give a platform to make sure those voices are heard and we’re really pushing for those initiatives that are important to those movements.”
Attendees will gather at the Capitol near 17th Avenue and Jefferson Street. The mile-long march is expected to begin around 11 a.m. once all the speeches are over and will wrap up around 2 p.m. after a series of performances from dancers and the Phoenix Women’s Chorus.
Burch said organizers will be selling navy blue T-shirts that represent the march, but encouraged attendees to wear clothing that expresses what is important to them.
“We want people to be able to express what’s important to them on this day. There is solidarity no matter what do because we have a unified message,” Burch said.
“We want people to be able to take things that are important to them and that’s what the march becomes about. The march is about the people who attend and the issues that are important to them.”
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ali Vetnar contributed to this report.