By Alissa Widman Neese, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – They’ll descend on Washington, D.C., with some 200,000 women next weekend to march in support of gender equality.
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But first, Rhiannon Childs, 38, and Lindsey Shriver, 27, want to ensure the message rings loud and clear in their home state. Together, the central Ohioans organized a local offshoot of the national Women’s March on Washington.
About 1,500 women and men from across Ohio are expected to attend.
The Ohio Women’s March starts at 1:30 p.m. Sunday Downtown on Washington Boulevard between COSI and the Scioto River.
The 1.5-mile walk will head east on W. Broad Street and end at the Statehouse, where anyone unable to attend the national march on Jan. 21 can write messages and pin them onto the backs of people who plan to attend, the organizers said.
“This is our way of bringing everything together, so their voices can be seen and heard on a national platform,” Shriver said.
Both the local and national demonstrations will push for women’s rights, in response to comments made by President-elect Donald Trump about women and other minority groups. Trump’s inauguration is Jan. 20.
A key goal is also to promote inclusion and to increase awareness about intersectionality, a feminist concept that says injustice affects all women differently. A woman’s race, class, ability, sexuality and ethnicity also can create challenges.