Plans for the Women’s March on Washington formed shortly after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, yet her name was omitted from the organization’s honoree list.
![Hillary Clinton](/wp-content/uploads/632188160_hillary-clinton-zoom-cf482830-2a0b-4b05-902d-6aa2554709fb.jpg?w=1000&quality=82&strip=all)
On Thursday, January 19, the movement released a document about its guiding vision and definition of principles, which included the names of 27 women who have “paved the way” for equal rights. Clinton, who was the first-ever female presidential nominee for a major political party, was not among them — and people took notice.
Some women mentioned included Gloria Steinem, Harriet Tubman, human rights activist Diane Nash and political activist Angela Davis.
“I’m marching on Saturday, but I’m so pissed off right now. There would be no March without @HillaryClinton,” one critic tweeted.
A second added: “This thing where the Women’s March keeps using Hillary’s image and words while simultaneously treating her like Voldemort is pretty weird.”
A petition on Change.org was created in light of the omission. “As activists and allies, we are dismayed that March organizers excluded Hillary Rodham Clinton as an honoree who has inspired women around the world to serve and to lead,” the request reads.
“The Women’s March on Washington reflects Hillary Clinton’s influence on global and domestic women’s rights advocacy by including her 1995 United Nations 4th World Conference on Women speech where she said, ‘Women’s rights are human rights.’ Thousands of March participants organized and have been inspired to fight back, some for the first time in their lives because of her historic presidential campaign,” the petition continues. “Hillary Clinton has cemented her place in history, and feminist history, in particular, because of her lifetime of service and her resilience in the face of 25 years of extreme gender-based opposition to her leadership. Despite her loss, Hillary Clinton won close to 3 million more votes than the winning candidate and secured the support of 89 percent of African-American female voters.”
Clinton attended Trump’s presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., on Friday. She toured the Capitol with husband Bill Clinton before taking her seat near Barack and Michelle Obama.
“I’m here today to honor our democracy & its enduring values,” the former secretary of state, 69, tweeted before the swearing-in ceremony. “I will never stop believing in our country & its future. #Inauguration.”