As women’s marches took place across the country over the weekend, Fort Wayne hosted its own at the Allen County Courthouse Sunday.
Hundreds of Northeast Indiana residents, aspiring political candidates and nonprofit leaders ignored Sunday’s damp, foggy conditions and came out to the courthouse for the march.
Pussy hats and signs reading “resist” were prevalent, as the message of the 2017 women’s march echoed back this year: women are angry, and demand more representation in state and national government as well as greater equity to their peers, notably in the workplace.
Nearly a dozen speakers emphasized these points. Jay Watts opened the event; she’s the director of Manchester University’s Creating A Respectful Environment (C.A.R.E.) Initiative, and is working to bring an LGBT youth center to Fort Wayne.
Watts says change begins by identifying systems that keep women, people of color and members of the LGBT community from making progress.
“If you can understand this system and how it disproportionately impacts survival of certain people, then you should understand that we have other systems that aggressively impact people and we need to be aggressive in change,” said Watts.
She went on to cite corruption in power, supremacy, oppression, trans and queer phobia and misogyny as these systems, and that people of all classes and worldviews must work together in order to make change within them.
Denita Washington added to that by saying young girls need more support growing up. She is the founder of Girls Rock, which emphasizes the empowerment of middle school to college-age girls.
Washington highlighted a study from the National Institute of Mental Health that says nearly 30 percent of young girls between the ages of 12 and 17 experience depression that affects their everyday life. She noted that Fort Wayne has not been immune to this.
“We have already experienced four -- minimum of four -- young women who have been murdered or been part of murder [in 2018]. Here. Not national. Not Time Magazine. Here. In our community,” said Washington.
She added that efforts like Girls Rock exist in order to bring the number of teenage girls who battle depression down by teaching them confidence and purpose.
From the business end of things, Fort Wayne has several organizations that aims to help women reach greater positions of influence. Vanessa Sheckler is an assistant manager for Creative Women of the World, an organization that inspires creative business and marketing solutions for women.
“I have never spoken to more than 50 people at one time before,” Sheckler said with a laugh.
Sheckler says CWOW prides itself on providing women with the tools to succeed in business locally, which in turn can help place them in more leadership positions.
“When we go in, you show a woman how to start their own business, they can empower the entire community on their own. And that there is very impacting,” she said.
Candidates for political office were also present for the march. Democratic third district congressional candidate Courtney Tritch said the passing of her sister and mother before turning 40 inspired her to run for office.
Tritch said she not only wanted to make an impact and honor their memory in the process, but emphasized the need for more women holding power in Washington.
“Is it acceptable to you that last year, 13 men sat behind closed doors and developed a health care bill without one woman at the table?” she asked, receiving a chorus of boos and marchers shouting “no.”
“Is it acceptable to you that we make up over 50 percent of the population and yet less than 20 percent of Congress? Or that we continue to make less pay for equal work?”
Tritch echoed Watts’ statement, and concluded by saying change starts not just with women, but when people with similar ideas of progress come together for change.
Melissa Rinehart is a candidate for Perry Township trustee. She said she decided to run for trustee because she believes change starts “from the bottom up,” and says women don’t have a loud enough voice locally and nationally.
“Did you know that a third of the races in Indiana in 2016 went uncontested? This is unacceptable. This isn’t representative government; nor is it good government,” she said. She added that her desire to run comes from never feeling adequately represented.
“Out of more than 500,000 elected offices in this country, only 20 to 24 percent are held by women,” she said. “Indiana has never had a female governor, Fort Wayne has never had a female mayor, and out of 150 Indiana legislative seats only 30 are held by women.”
Bev Zuber is the assessor of Wayne Township. She says it’s important for everyone to participate in events like Sunday’s march, especially once the younger generation begins asking where people were when they took place.
“I can talk to you about assessing for days, but that’s not why I’m here,” she said to laughter from the marchers on hand. Zuber stressed that she was there as a mother and grandmother who wants to see a better world for the women in her family.
“It breaks my heart to see what’s going on today, and the only way we can stop it is to go to the polls, to use our vote to put people into office who are willing to represent us,” she said.
Allen County councilwoman Sharon Tucker was the final speaker at the march. She talked about growing up as a child and how she was taught to be “seen, not heard,” and how that concept has followed her into public service.
“This is what we are getting from our political position as women, they want us to be...” she said, then paused for the crowd to finish with “seen, not heard.”
“But guess what? Time’s up,” she said, to cheers. “I’m stepping out of the little girls room and stepping into the boardroom.”
Marchers then circled the courthouse to a soundtrack featuring Katy Perry’s “Roar” and Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song,” before the event concluded. Some marchers emphasized the need for the day to not only focus on women, but other groups as well.
“I’m marching for everything,” said Nikole Sanders. “For women’s rights, trans rights, I’m marching against racism, I’m marching against Trump, I’m marching for DREAMers. Everything.”
“If I had more legs, I would march more,” she concluded.
IPFW women’s studies adjunct instructor Sophia Ulmer shared a similar sentiment. “It’s important our volume stays at a top level, because that will enable the outreach for people to understand that intersectional feminism is good for everybody, not just women.”
