Aside from the large crowds at Saturday’s Women’s March in Washington D.C., perhaps the most memorable aspect of the event were the homemade signs carried by protestors. They contained a myriad of messages: slogans supporting well-known activist movements, jokes about the newly inaugurated President, and messages calling for unity and empowerment. But another subset of signage focused on concerns that President Trump, and those in his cabinet, would increase existing economic inequality, particularly for women.
“I am deeply concerned that Donald Trump is in a lot of ways threatening everything I hold dear in terms of civil rights, civil liberties, in terms of focusing on issues of economic inequality,” said Melanie DeSilva of Shutesbury, Massachusetts. She noted Trump’s pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act and his order to suspend the FHA mortgage interest rate cut—his first official order as president—as causes for concern, despite his pledge to help all Americans, particularly those struggling to find their financial footing.
“There’s no indication—besides his rhetoric—that he’s really interested in helping low-income people. He’s against raising the minimum wage which is something that is absolutely vital when it comes to dealing with income inequality. I think all indications are that people are going to get poorer under the Trump administration,” she told me.