Hundreds Of Students March In Philly For Women's Rights
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Hundreds local students are staging a protest on the eve of the Inauguration tomorrow.
They say the march is meant to bring awareness to and advocate for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Students from more than a dozen different schools and organizations are walking to Eakins Oval.
The movement goes back to 1923 when activist Alice Paul wrote the Equal Rights Amendment.
More than 90 years later, the "ERA" as it's called has still not been passed.
The amendment would guarantee equality of rights under the law.
Those rights could not be denied by the U.S. or any state on account of sex.
Paul was also a suffragist.
In 1913, the day before Woodrow Wilson's Inauguration, she and more than 8,000 women marched on Washington, demanding the Constitutional amendment to give women the right to vote.
Today's march and rally in Philadelphia is meant to continue that work.
The march was organized by Anna Holemans, a junior at Friends Select School.
She organized the march a year and a half ago, before she had any idea about the next president of the United States.
And even though this rally isn't directed specifically at President-elect Donald Trump, with women's rights under the new administration a big concern for many, she recognizes the importance of today's rally.
"I do think it's more relevant than ever."
The march began at City Hall. The students are walking down JFK Boulevard to 16th Street and the Ben Franklin Parkway, ending at Eakins Oval.
