Boston Cambridge 2018 Women's March: Saturday Jan 20 2018

CAMBRIDGE, MA – The founders of a movement that last year brought a throng of women to the streets of Washington, D.C., and around the country, are planning a repeat demonstration this year, with the main event taking place Jan. 21 in Las Vegas. The 2018 Women’s March is framed around a “national voter registration tour” ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

In Cambridge, the 2018 Women’s March will be held Saturday, Jan. 20 at the Cambridge Common from 1-3 p.m. The event is organized by the January Coalition, which is working with last year's organizers March Forward Massachusetts and a number of other groups to develop and promote the March.

The Cambridge march is expected to draw the largest crowd, but there will be other related events around Massachusetts. At the center of this year's event is a reflection on political and social justice movements over the past year and an affirmation of values going forward.

Zayda Ortiz, a spokesperson for the march, told MassLive the event will focus on the rights of groups like immigrants, transgender people and religious minorities. For example, organizers hope to raise awareness about a ballot measure in the upcoming Massachusetts election that asks voters to decide whether to remove gender identity from the list of characteristics protected from discrimination, she said.

A number of elected officials and community activists are slated to speak. Below is the list of confirmed speakers so far:

• Marc McGovern, Mayor of Cambridge
• Maura Healey, Attorney General of Massachusetts
• Marjorie Decker, State Representative
• Sumbul Siddiqui, Cambridge City Council
• Rhoda Gibson, MassADAPT
• Valentine Moghadam, Northeastern University
• Laura Rotolo, ACLU Massachusetts
• Nichole Mossalam, CAIR Massachusetts
• Andrea James, Families for Justice As Healing
• Tina Chéry, Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
• Michelle Cunha, Massachusetts Peace Action
• Savina Martin, Poor People’s Campaign
• Eva Martin Blythe, YWCA Cambridge
• Tray Johns, #Fedfam4life
• Aleksandra Burger-Roy, NEIC
• Freedom for All Massachusetts (Speaker TBA)

The marches come at a watershed moment for women, who are seeking public office in record numbers in the 2018 midterm elections. Women are empowered both by the #MeToo movement, which brought a trove of stories from women who said they have faced sexual assault or harassment, and outrage against President Trump, who famously said in 2005 Access Hollywood tape leaked during the 2016 campaign that he had groped women’s genitals — prompting the pink “pussy” hats demonstrators wore last year.

In Massachusetts, at least a dozen women are expected to run in the 2018 election. Six, including Attorney General Maura Healey and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, are incumbents, but the Senate race will see bids from Republicans Beth Lindstrom and Heidi Wellman, and women from both sides of the aisle are eyeing U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas' seat in District 3. Tsongas announced last summer she would not seek re-election in 2018.

Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics says that about 600 women nationwide — a record — are running for statewide and federal office in the midterms.

Learn more about the 2018 Women’s March here. For more information about the Cambridge Women's March, click here.

Photo of 2017 Women's March on the Boston Common (Sarah Bettencourt/Patch)