SENECA FALLS, N.Y. — At the birthplace of women’s rights in America, thousands of people are expected to gather this weekend for an anniversary women’s march and rally in Seneca Falls. Many from Ithaca are also planning to join.
Last year, an estimated 10,000 people filled Ithaca’s streets for Women’s March on Ithaca. It was one of hundreds of marches across the country. No march is planned in Ithaca this year, but many people are heading up to Seneca Falls to take part in a planned march.
Related: ‘We’re in this together’: 10,000 fill Ithaca streets for women’s march
The march and rally, called “per-Sisters for Women’s Equality” will go from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. More than 2,000 people have said they are going to the march so far, according to the Facebook event.
As of Monday morning, there are still seats open on a bus organized by Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes leaving from Ithaca. The bus will leave Ithaca at 8 a.m. and return from Seneca Falls at 4:30 p.m. Seats are $23.
At the rally, speakers will focus on topics of ending systemic racism & sexism; environmental justice; equal pay; eradicating violence against women; gender parity in elected office; LGBTQIA, immigrant, and disability rights; passage of the proposed ERA; and reproductive rights and self-sovereignty, a news release states.
Seneca Falls, which is about an hour north of Ithaca, is known as the birthplace of the women’s rights movement because of the Seneca Falls Convention held in 1848. The convention brought hundreds of women together and is credited with being the start of women’s rights movement and fight for women’s suffrage.
The march and rally Saturday is intended to remind elected and appointed government officials that women’s rights activists are persisting.
In a news release, lead organizer and former Auburn Mayor Melina Carnicelli said, “I urge women, and men, who support the hard-fought social justice gains made over the past 150 years, and who are now witnessing bold attempts at roll-backs on these non-partisan issues, to be per-Sisters! Rights belonging to women must never be diminished in our country, only uplifted. We call on all ‘per-Sisters’ of women’s rights as human rights to be in Seneca Falls on Jan. 20.”
For more information about the bus leaving from Ithaca, visit the Facebook event page.
Featured image: Women’s March on Ithaca, Jan. 21, 2016. Kelsey O’Connor/Ithaca Voice