Women's March: Placards, protest and pink hats - the iconic movement's history

Louise Hall looks at some of the most high profile women’s marches of the last decade and why they were held

March for Women's Lives: History in pictures (Getty)

Women have been gathering together to take collective action for centuries, and while the ethos and agenda of different women’s marches differ, they are for the most part united by the desire to drive change and equality for women in society.

But what are some of the most high profile women’s marches of the last decade? And why did they occur?

The Independent takes a look back at some of the most influential large scale protests in the United States and their significance in women's history.

2004

On 25 April 2004, a record 1.3 million people took to the streets of Washington DC in defence of women’s reproductive health care and particularly in protest at the anti-abortion policies of then-President George W Bush.

The event, coordinated by seven different women’s rights groups, brought together women from all over the US, and was the largest of its kind in modern history, setting a precedent for the possibility of high scale collective action of women across the country.

High profile celebrities such as Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, and Kathleen Turner helped boost its profile.

For the duration of the event, a sea of activists poured into Washington in peaceful protest, cementing the possibility of mass action into the minds of attendees and audiences around the world.

2017

A milestone year in the history of the Women's March, there are not many across the US who won’t recollect the scenes from the birth of the annual Women's March movement in the wake of Donald Trump’s shock election victory.

Brandishing a colourful riot of placards, fury, and pink “pussy hats” the 2017 march was reported to have been the largest single-day protest in US history.

This time the movement came in their floods to protest against Mr Trump's attitudes towards women and the threat to women's rights they perceived they reflected, well outnumbering the number of citizens attending the president's inauguration in the same week.

Far from being confined to Washington, the Women’s March 2017 reached women worldwide, spurring similar protests from countries around the globe.

The peaceful but powerful imagery of streams of women at the protest came to be viewed by many as an iconic moment of resistance in women's equality recent history.

2018

In an attempt to build upon the mass public investment in the march a year before, the Women’s March 2018 resolved to take place on the anniversary of its predecessor.

The movement had cemented its image and sentiment, still standing on the platform of combating violence against women, reproductive rights, and racial and economic fairness.

“People were pretty damn mad last year and they're pretty damn mad this year,” said Tamika Mallory, the then co-president of the Women's March board said.

Fuelled by the mainstream ascent of the #MeToo movement at the end of the year before, the belief in the drive for equality behind the march was only becoming stronger.

Despite a drop in turnout after the initial peak of the movement in 2017 the event had retained its status as a global affair with parallel rallies in Europe, Asia, and Africa also taking place.

2019

Turbulence beset the march in the run-up to its 2019 protest amidst allegations of antisemitism from some of the movement's core members.

Some of the movement's then lead organisers faced allegations that they attended events hosted by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has made remarks widely regarded as antisemitic. The organisers accused have continually denied allegations of antisemitism.

Some outlets speculated that the controversy impeded the turnout of the march with tens of thousands, rather than millions expected to take part in its run-up.

However, this was far from the first instance that the ideology behind the march had drawn criticism within the feminist community.

Some accused the event of presenting a problematic and singular voice for white, cisgender women, marginalising other intersectional groups such as native women, disabled women, women of colour, trans women, and Jewish women.

The poorer turnout in 2019 was also speculated to have been induced by poor weather and a decline in interest since the initial breakout in 2017.

One the actual day it was reported that the attendance for 2019 was around 100,000.

2020

By this year, the Women’s March has become more than an annual demonstration, with its website stating that the movement is working to provide intersectional education on a diverse range of issues through training, outreach programs and events.

This year's protests emphasised three themes: reproductive rights, immigration and climate change.

Despite a continued flag in the numbers of participants, the symbol of the march remains synonymous with a grassroots belief in the demand for political change and equality, no longer just in the US but across the world.