The March on Chicago for women’s rights turned into a rally after it was estimated that over 150,000 people came out to support the event.
Naperville celebrated the nationwide Women’s March today in the Ashbury neighborhood for those who couldn’t make it to the rally in Chicago.
“I got a lot of resistance like ‘what do I want to accomplish’, and the same thing that all other marches want to accomplish: awareness, community, social change, empowerment. And that’s what I’m trying to accomplish is that, we’re here, we’re showing that our communities are vibrant and diverse,” said Blythe Zada, organizer of the Ashbury march.
Others decided to head downtown this morning and boarded crowded trains out of 5th Avenue to represent Naperville and be apart of the larger event.
“It’s important for me to go to the march to show that women need equal rights,” said Stephanie Ryan, an administrator for Naper Gals. “Women need the same rights as men, women rights are human rights and human rights are women rights.”
Naper Gals is a Facebook group that aims to bring together women in and around Naperville who want to support women’s rights, social justice, and each other, and participating in the women’s rally.
“It’s about actually going out and reaching out and meeting people face to face and going to marches and actually doing something physical, rather than just making these comments on Facebook and you just keep making these comments and you just feel like nothing’s changing, nothing’s happening, and you just keep doing that,” said Holly Hootman, another administrator of Naper Gals.
Naper Gals started because of the nationwide Women’s March movement, but Hootman says she hopes it will continue as an advocacy group in the community.
More information about the Women’s March movement can be found on their website.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.
