Women with ‘open mind’ say give Trump a chance

WASHINGTON — As more than 1 million marched in protest of President Trump’s policies yesterday, women who were still in Washington, D.C., after attending Friday’s inauguration festivities said they respected the demonstrators’ right to assemble peacefully but wished they would give the administration a chance.

“I’m going to give an opportunity for President Trump to take action,” Laurie Dove said. “While the protest is at the same time of his election, I feel like a lot of those issues are things that were from the previous administration. I’m going into this with an open mind and an open heart. I’m going to see what he does. He hasn’t had a chance to do anything that anyone should be protesting or be that upset about.”

Michele Gaur, who also watched the protest, said she decided not to join in because she felt “women in America have more freedom than most women in the world.”

“In Saudi Arabia, women can’t drive. They can’t leave their country without the permission of their husband or their fathers. They walk behind their husbands,” she said. “I feel like the focus needs to be on international women’s rights. I have no problem with my rights in America. I am very happy. I’m proud to live here.”

Lauren Leader-Chivee, who attended both the inauguration and the Women’s March, felt yesterday’s massive demonstration was “light on action.”

“What I worry about is that is you’ve got millions of women mobilized around the country and fired up, without an outlet to do that,” Leader-Chivee said. “I would have like to have seen more concrete, tangible direction about how to make an impact in the political process.” Heather Tullio is an associate professor at Franklin Pierce University.