Protesters in Columbus rallied in Goodale Park on Wednesday to commemorate International Women's Day, which until this year has garnered little attention in the U.S.
On the Ohio State Campus, students attended a teach-in and gathered in front of the Thompson library before joining the rally at Goodale Park. Women across the country were asked to abstain from work, if they could afford to do so, and only purchase goods from female or minority-owned businesses.
For many protesters, 2017 changed the significance of International Women's Day, a celebration that has rarely spurred coordinated protests.
"We've been spoiled and we've become complacent, and the message this year is we all have to wake up," said Cathy Corcella, who joined the march outside the library.
Organizers for the protest called the march a movement of solidarity against recent attacks on women, women of color and trans women as a result of policies that have either been proposed, or enacted, by the Trump administration.
Topics on many protestors' minds included the recent GOP proposal to replace Obamacare, which would deny federal funding for Planned Parenthood clinics. Others were angered by the Trump administration's decision to roll back protections for trans students in public schools.
Ohio State student Kelsie McVeety says today's movement, unlike feminist movements in the past, calls for intersectionality. That includes - among many things - rights for women of color, women with disabilities and those in the LGBTQ community.
"We can't fight for equality if we're not fighting for the equality of everyone," McVeety says.
Cory Andon was one of many men who chose to participate in the march. He said it's important that more men show their support for these issues.
"It's not a divisive movement," Andon says. "It's not just women who are fighting for this; there are men alongside the women."
