About 150 women and men gathered under the flags of City Hall Park Plaza on Saturday to make their voices heard in opposition to what they consider the “War on Women.”
The protest, organized by the group Unite Women, was part of a nationwide series of rallies that saw events occur in 45 states and Washington, D.C.
The host of speakers covered topics ranging from reproductive rights to economic equality, but the overarching theme was a recent increase in “anti-woman” legislation at the state and federal level.
Ashley Baggett, state coordinator for Unite Women and history graduate student at the University, said there have been nearly 1,000 bills affecting women’s rights at the state and federal level in the past year.
“Since the ’70s and ’80s, there has been this swing in the country going more conservative,” Baggett said. “But it has started to swing too far, and I think we are really showing the frustrations of the day.”
Speakers touched several times on how Louisiana is a difficult environment for defending women’s rights. Because Louisiana is such a conservative state, it can be difficult for women to have their voices heard in
government, according to Eileen Velez, another speaker at the event.
But Baggett said that’s the reason it is so important to continue to petition the government.
“Louisiana has one of the highest wage gaps in the country,” Baggett said. “Women make 67 cents to the dollar for men, and it’s even less for women of color.”
Heidi Eckert, history sophomore, spoke about the necessity of including young people and college students. She said college students are the most likely to be sympathetic to women’s issues, but activists must work to combat the apathy college students usually have.
Renee Davis, regional liaison for Unite Women, said she was amazed at how quickly the group grew, underlining the importance of social media in garnering popular support.
Davis said Unite Women became one of the 10 fastest growing Facebook groups of all time, and the group’s membership explosion will make up for its lack of funding.
“The truth is, we don’t have any money. We’ve all got maxed out credit cards and overdrawn bank accounts,” Davis said to laughs and shouts of support. “But in the 10 weeks since Unite Women was formed by two angry women from Michigan, we have gained over 38,000 members.”
Attendees, an evenly distributed group of men and women, said they came there to show their general support for the movement, as well as to
champion specific causes.
Taylor Dupuy, psychology senior, said she wanted to help make sure authorities took the rally seriously.
“It’s not just gender-based,” Dupuy said. “It’s about coming together to show that there are people who want things
to change.”
 
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Contact Gordon Brillon at [email protected]