Published below is the Women’s March Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles.
It was released by the organisers of the Women’s March on Washington, which drew 500,000 people.
It was part of protests in hundreds of US cities that drew more than 4 million on the streets on January 21 — the largest protest in US history — to protest the anti-women and reactionary agenda of President Donald Trump.
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● We believe that women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights. This is the basic and original tenet from which all our values stem.
● We believe gender justice is racial justice is economic justice. We must create a society in which women — in particular Black women, Native women, poor women, immigrant women, Muslim women, and queer and trans women — are free and able to care for and nurture their families, however they are formed, in safe and healthy environments free from structural impediments.
● Women deserve to live full and healthy lives, free of violence against our bodies. One in three women have been victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime; and one in five women have been raped. Further, each year, thousands of women and girls, particularly Black, indigenous and transgender women and girls, are kidnapped, trafficked or murdered.
We honour the lives of those women who were taken before their time and we affirm that we work for a day when all forms of violence against women are eliminated.
Police brutality
● We believe in accountability and justice for police brutality and ending racial profiling and targeting of communities of colour. Women of colour are killed in police custody at greater rates than white women, and are more likely to be sexually assaulted by police.
We also call for an immediate end to arming police with the military grade weapons and military tactics that are wreaking havoc on communities of colour. No woman or mother should have to fear that her loved ones will be harmed at the hands of those sworn to protect.
● We believe it is our moral imperative to dismantle the gender and racial inequities within the criminal justice system. The rate of imprisonment has grown faster for women than men, increasing by 700% since 1980. The majority of women in prison have a child under the age of 18. Incarcerated women also face a high rate of violence and sexual assault.
We are committed to ensuring access to gender-responsive programming and dedicated healthcare including substance abuse treatment, mental and maternal health services for women in prison. We believe in the promise of restorative justice and alternatives to incarceration.
We are also committed to disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline that prioritises incarceration over education by systematically funnelling our children — particularly children of colour, queer and trans youth, foster care children, and girls — into the justice system.
Reproductive freedom
● We believe in reproductive freedom. We do not accept any federal, state or local rollbacks, cuts or restrictions on our ability to access quality reproductive healthcare services, birth control, HIV/AIDS care and prevention, or medically accurate sexuality education. This means open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion and birth control for all people, regardless of income, location or education.
We understand that we can only have reproductive justice when reproductive health care is accessible to all people regardless of income, location or education.
● We believe in gender justice. We must have the power to control our bodies and be free from gender norms, expectations and stereotypes. We must free ourselves and our society from the institution of awarding power, agency and resources disproportionately to masculinity to the exclusion of others.
● We firmly declare that LGBTQIA rights are human rights and that it is our obligation to uplift, expand and protect the rights of our gay, lesbian, bi, queer, trans or gender non-conforming brothers, sisters and siblings. This includes access to non-judgmental, comprehensive healthcare with no exceptions or limitations; access to name and gender changes on identity documents; full anti-discrimination protections; access to education, employment, housing and benefits; and an end to police and state violence.
● We believe in an economy powered by transparency, accountability, security and equity. We believe that creating workforce opportunities that reduce discrimination against women and mothers allow economies to thrive. Nations and industries that support and invest in caregiving and basic workplace protections — including benefits like paid family leave, access to affordable childcare, sick days, healthcare, fair pay, vacation time and healthy work environments — have shown growth and increased capacity.
● We believe in equal pay for equal work and the right of all women to be paid equitably. We must end the pay and hiring discrimination that women, particularly mothers, women of colour, lesbian, queer and trans women still face each day in our nation. Many mothers have always worked and in our modern labour force; and women are now 50% of all family breadwinners.
We stand for the 82% of women who become mums, particularly mums of colour, being paid, judged and treated fairly. Equal pay for equal work will lift families out of poverty and boost our nation’s economy.
● We recognise that women of colour carry the heaviest burden in the global and domestic economic landscape, particularly in the care economy. We further affirm that all care work — caring for the elderly, caring for the chronically ill, caring for children and supporting independence for people with disabilities — is work, and that the burden of care falls disproportionately on the shoulders of women, particularly women of colour.
We stand for the rights, dignity and fair treatment of all unpaid and paid caregivers. We must repair and replace the systemic disparities that permeate caregiving at every level of society.
● We believe that all workers — including domestic and farm workers — must have the right to organise and fight for a living minimum wage, and that unions and other labour associations are critical to a healthy and thriving economy for all. Undocumented and migrant workers must be included in our labour protections, and we stand in solidarity with sex workers’ rights movements.
● We believe civil rights are our birthright. Our constitutional government establishes a framework to provide and expand rights and freedoms — not restrict them. To this end, we must protect and restore all the constitutionally-mandated rights to all our citizens, including voting rights, freedom to worship without fear of intimidation or harassment, freedom of speech, and protections for all citizens regardless of race, gender, age or disability.
● We believe it is time for an all-inclusive Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution. Most Americans believe the Constitution guarantees equal rights, but it does not. The 14th Amendment has been undermined by courts and cannot produce real equity on the basis of race and/or sex.
And in a true democracy, each citizen’s vote should count equally. All Americans deserve equality guarantees in the Constitution that cannot be taken away or disregarded, recognising the reality that inequalities intersect, interconnect and overlap.
Immigration rights
● Rooted in the promise of America’s call for huddled masses yearning to breathe free, we believe in immigrant and refugee rights regardless of status or country of origin. It is our moral duty to keep families together and empower all aspiring Americans to fully participate in, and contribute to, our economy and society. We reject mass deportation, family detention, violations of due process and violence against queer and trans migrants.
Immigration reform must establish a roadmap to citizenship and provide equal opportunities and workplace protections for all. We recognise that the call to action to love our neighbour is not limited to the United States, because there is a global migration crisis. We believe migration is a human right and that no human being is illegal.
● We believe that every person and every community in our nation has the right to clean water, clean air and access to and enjoyment of public lands. We believe that our environment and our climate must be protected, and that our land and natural resources cannot be exploited for corporate gain or greed — especially at the risk of public safety and health.