#March4Women 2019 Wants to Stop Workplace Sexual Harassment

by Klara Blazejovska

The diverse crowd gathered at the entrance of Central Hall Westminster ahead of the programme

Charity Care International held the seventh annual #March4Women on Sunday 3rd March in Central Hall Westminster.

This year’s event was a rally-like get-together, held indoors for the first time. The crowd celebrated women and following the #MeToo movement it demanded the end to the workplace sexual harassment.

The event is annually planned just before International Women’s day. “It’s a brilliant opportunity to bring a lot of people together who are passionate about particular cause. This way people actually get to know who we are and the fact that we care about women and girls particularly,” says Care’s spokesperson Shabbat Amini.

The crowd celebrated women and demanded end to the workplace sexual harassment

Care International, a charity that works to empower girls and women around the world, gathered an impressive line-up of speakers and performers. The afternoon was run by comedian Sue Perkins and led by Dr Helen Pankhurst, women’s rights activist, international campaigner and a great-granddaughter of British Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst.

Beverley Knight, English recording artist, radio presenter and musical theatre actress, performed two songs

The crowd silently listened to activists and actors reading testimonies of survivors of sexual harassment. Silence turned to celebration, as a host of musical performances from Beverley Knight, musical group Urban Voices Collective, Imelda May and string quartet Bond, filled the room.

Ruth and Sabrina from Urban Voices Collective say that this is their third year performing at #March4Women. “It’s a project that says we are all equal, no matter what shape or size or colour or creed you are. And it is very much something that we embody as a group.”

Lady Brenda Hale, the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom gave an eye-opening speech describing the English Law and the progress it made since she passed the bar in 1969.

Anti-feminist protesters were from the political party called Justice for Men and Boys (and the Women Who Love Them)

But #March4Women also attracted anti-feminism protesters who surrounded the entrance urging attendees to change their mind on the ‘women issue’.

“We are here representing the majority of the

British population, particularly the women who

are non-feminist. We feel that both Women’s Day as an event and the institutions like the media, politics, universities, academia especially, are monopolised by feminist and aren’t representative of how the population feels,” says Elizabeth Hobson, one of the protesters and director of communication

at political party called Justice for Men and Boys (and the Women Who Love them).

At the end of the event Shola Mos-Shogbaminu urged everyone to fill in the postcards prepared on each chair addressed to the Minister of Employment urging him to vote for a new global convention to make workplaces safer for every woman.

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