By Kristen Botas, Contributing Writer

The Women’s March was an empowering movement that took place all over the country, the weekend after the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

There has been controversy stemming from the march itself – some people think that the march was an amazing thing, while others believe that the whole march itself had no purpose.

The marches were a peaceful message; it was not just a protest against the inauguration of President Trump, but also a protest for themselves.

Its message was that alone, women are strong. But as a whole, they are stronger, and will not back down.

Their voices will be heard, and they will put up a peaceful fight against Trump’s agenda.

Here are student voices on the issue:

Desiree Costa, a second year UMassD Law student, explained,

“I think the women’s march was truly an inspiring event that allowed many who have been recently disheartened to come together.

There’s a lot of questions about what is going to happen next, and there’s a real threat of dismantling years’ worth of hard work for women’s rights, healthcare safeguards, and safety in general,” she continued.

“A lot of people have been saying that a march won’t do much, but it’s still an important step in people showing that they will stand together, continue to fight for, and support women’s issues. I think that really helps to raise people’s morale, to be inspired to be more engaged in the community if they haven’t been, and think of ways to support the cause and ultimately take action.”

Junior marketing major, Shannon Morrell, partook in one of the “sister marches” in Boston.

Morrell explained her emotions on the way to Boston before arriving to the march:

“I was excited to be a part of the women’s march. It encompassed things I care deeply about – being intersectional feminism, pro-choice, black lives matter, LGBT rights, pro-immigrant, and Muslim, etc.

The march was meant to dismantle the sexism, racism, misogyny, and misinformation that people like Donald Trump thrive off of. 

Although I wish the march was more inclusive of women of color (because unfortunately it was a white washed march leaving women of color as an after thought) I was still there to stand up for all women and will continue to fight for all women.

I hope that everyone who attended the Women’s Marches all over the world will continue to care for and fight for these issues because this wasn’t a one-time thing.

This is just the beginning to a very long fight, and we’ll need everyone who’s willing to stay aboard.”

This empowering march will surely be taught in schools in the future, as just the sheer amount of people who participated was unprecedented.

The amount of people who partook in this march would surely cause a sense of adrenaline for anyone who attended, as shown by Morrell’s passionate explanation of the events occurring at the event.

“The march itself it was very crowded, which is a good thing, and I believe [it] totaled out to 175,000 people in Boston.

After speakers like Elizabeth Warren and Maura Healey spoke – which was very empowering – we had to wait for almost two hours to get out onto the street to march since it was so crowded,” Morrell explained.

Other similar events like this in the near future are said to take place in efforts to reject Trump’s administrative efforts.