Women's March On Cleveland Set To Attract Thousands Of Protesters

CLEVELAND, OH — On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of women will flock to Washington, D.C., to make a statement to the newly sworn-in President Donald Trump and his administration. Organizers of the Women's March on Washington say they want the president to understand that women's rights are human rights.

Sister marches have sprouted up across the U.S. in solidarity with the D.C. event. One such March will hit Cleveland's Public Square on Saturday. At 10 a.m., thousands of women will join together in the heart of Cleveland's revitalized square and demand their voices be heard.

"This march is the first step towards unifying our communities, grounded in new relationships, to create change from the grassroots level up. We will not rest until women have parity and equity at all levels of leadership in society. We work peacefully while recognizing there is no true peace without justice and equity for all," the Cleveland organizers say on their Facebook page.

Coming Together

Without a little luck and good timing, though, the Cleveland event would never have been a possibility.

The organizers, Claudia Pasmatsiou and Laura Johnson, are Ph.D. candidates in physics at Case Western Reserve University. They weren't political activists until this election cycle rolled around. During the 2016 campaign, the pair felt like women's rights were being maligned and there wasn't much rebuke for the offenders.

"We followed politics, but we were never involved in it," Johnson said.

After Trump won the election and the Women's March on Washington was announced, both Pasmatsiou and Johnson felt they had an outlet. The event promised to give voice to all of their concerns and be a show of strength and solidarity among women.

Unfortunately, neither Johnson nor Pasmatsiou could attend. They both had jobs and couldn't afford the time off for the long trip out to D.C.

Dismayed but not defeated, they emailed a travel coordinator for the D.C. March and asked about sister rallies. They were told there wasn't one in Cleveland, but...hey, would you like to organize one?

They were physics students with zero experience organizing political events. They were skeptical.

The organizer promised to provide a bunch of documents and expertise to walk them through the process. It couldn't be easier.

After some thought, the duo decided to do it. No one else was going to.

So two physics students, who aren't even from Ohio, decided to help the women of Northeast Ohio give voice to their growing political concerns. And for two people without organizing experience, they've done a masterful job drumming up interest and navigating the labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape and permission slips.

When they first created a Facebook event for the public, they expected something like 50 people to show up, Johnson laughingly remembered. Now their event has 1,800 confirmed attendees and another 3,300 interested parties. Plus, they've received permission from the City of Cleveland to hold their event.

"We didn't know this was an option for us," Johnson said. "We hope we're inspiring young women to get more involved."

Notably, this is an inclusive event. It is not designed exclusively for women. Anyone who supports women's rights may attend, the organizers said.

Pasmatsiou notes that this is an in-progress event. They're still developing the messaging and speaker list for the event. However, the duo want to include some push for young women to get more opportunities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineer and Math) fields. They noted that as physics students, they're two of the only women in their program.

"We want women in science and in government. We didn’t grow up with this idea that we could do this," Johnson said. "We didn’t have a role model that we could imagine doing this."

The event will run like this: Everything will start at Public Square at 10 a.m. From 10 to 11 a.m. there will be a welcome speech. Invited speakers will promote ideas and talk about defending women’s rights. From 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. there will be an actual march. From 12 to 12:30 there will be announcements about upcoming events. After 12:30 to 1 p.m. people will be able to mingle and then start to leave.

The key isn't the event itself though, Johnson said.

"We want people to think about what will happen after the event. We want people to get more involved. We want people to realize there are issues around human and women’s rights. People care about these issues all over the world, and we need to too," Johnson said.

That means more interest in politics, more activists. Maybe it means more marches.

"Every political decision effects us," Pasmatsiou said. "That's why we're interested in what's going on in Ohio."

If you're interested in attending the event and want more information, you can connect with Pasmatsiou and Johnson on their Facebook event page.

Photo from Women's March on Cleveland and Rick Uldricks, Patch