Thousands fill streets for Women's March 2020

Chicago march returns after year hiatus as one of more than 180 across nation

Women’s March Chicago 2020 prepares to step off from the Art Institute in Chicago’s Grant Park Saturday morning. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

CHICAGO — Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Chicago Saturday for Women’s March 2020.

The march was one of more than 180 across the nation, according to organizers. Drizzly rain and temperatures hovering at the freezing mark kept many from gathering until right before the scheduled 11 a.m. start of the march, but they formed a line blocks long in a procession that went from Grant Park and the Art Institute into the Loop and Federal Plaza.

Organizers deliberately kept the march brisk and light on speeches, but planned this year’s protest around five issues: the 2020 U.S. Census, gun violence, climate change, health care, and getting out the vote later this year. This year’s march was also dedicated to disabled women, some of whom led the way along with state and local officials.

The Women’s March began three years ago on the Saturday after President Trump’s inauguration in response to his taking office. Crowds in Washington, D.C., dwarfed the turnout for his inauguration earlier in the week, and an estimated 200,000 turned out in Chicago.

Some 300,000 marched in Chicago the following year, but then organizers held a Chicago march ahead of the November 2018 midterm election and did not join other cities in the march a year ago. Chicago returned to the fold this year, and while the turnout didn’t match previous marches — organizers estimated the crowd in the tens of thousands — it was nonetheless a powerful protest against the Trump administration and its policies.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the series of marches reflected a wave of women seizing political power and taking political office since Trump’s inauguration. A record number of women took office in Congress last year, and Lightfoot included herself in that wave with her victory last year.

“I particularly want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to say women matter, girls matter, their voices are important, and we’re going to stand up for those things we care deeply about, starting with of course choice,” Lightfoot said.

Brigid Leahy, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Illinois Action, said, “In the last few years, sexual and reproductive health care have been under attack like never before.” She pointed to the Trump administration’s restrictions on Title X funding, adding, “Nationally, access to abortion and abortion rights are under threat.”

Yet she also drew attention to how Planned Parenthood is far more than just an abortion clinic, offering the only health care available in some areas of the state to men and women. “We are a safe haven for whoever needs health care,” Leahy said. “We are marching today for health care, and we want everyone to join us in this fight.”

“I think this march is a good beginning,” said Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, “but I hope people will continue to work for the candidates and the causes that they believe in throughout the year.”

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton praised the inclusion of those with disabilities in this year’s march, saying, “As we think about how representation matters and everyone’s voices matter, we have to make sure that we include those among the disability community, that they are here with us lifting up their voices on their own behalf. And I think that’s the most powerful thing about this march.”

Other elected officials taking part in the march included U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, U.S. Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston and Robin Kelly of Matteson, Comptroller Susana Mendoza, and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

There were no speeches at the formal end of the march at Federal Plaza, but large elements of the crowd did break off and continue marching through the Loop to the Trump International Hotel and Tower on the Chicago River.

Hundreds of thousands of people marched in more than 180 protests across the nation.