Yesterday, as the late-afternoon sun swept across the open expanse of Washington Square Park in downtown Manhattan, thousands of people assembled in honor of International Women’s Day. The rally lasted well into the unseasonably warm evening, with musical performances and speeches to fire up attendees. By nightfall, participants had made stops at the Stonewall Inn, Trump Hotel Soho, and the African burial ground on the way downtown to City Hall.
The Cut caught up with a few of the protesters who agreed to have their photos taken. Some had been on strike all day, others had left their work early to join the rally. Each person we spoke to had their own personal reasons for being there — some had gone without pay, others had given their babysitters the day off (paid) and carried children with them in Baby Bjorns.
For Leena, a Palestinian-American law student from Brooklyn, the march in Washington Square was less about reproductive rights than about combating U.S. imperialism. She told the Cut, “I’m at the women’s strike to represent the women of the world who persevere every day in the face of U.S. imperialism and misogyny. I am here for the women of Palestine who lead the struggle for liberation of our motherland. I hope it will bring attention to the intersectional struggle that women around the world deal with.” Read on for more stories and portraits from yesterday’s strike.