Also see the similarly-named Women’s March Global, a project of the Tides Center

Women’s March, Inc. is a national left-of-center activist organization that advocates on abortion rights and similar feminist-focused issues. It is one of the two major organizations (the other being March On) that were formed following the January 2017 “Women’s March on Washington” opposing the first Trump administration. It was reported that several of the organizers of the Washington, D.C. event went on to work for Women’s March, Inc., while March On was established by activists who organized local events outside of Washington. ¹

In 2018, Women’s March, Inc. unsuccessfully attempted to trademark the name “Women’s March” and prevent other activist groups from using it. It was later revealed that Women’s March, Inc. co-president Tamika Mallory and board members Linda Sarsour and Carmen Perez had associated with antisemite Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam. In July 2019, Sarsour, Mallory, and board member Bob Bland resigned from the board due to Mallory’s ties to Farrakhan as well as accusations of financial mismanagement. ^{1 2 3 4}

In January 2025, Women’s March, Inc. staged a protest during the second inauguration of President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. under a new name, “People’s March.” According to an article by Politico, The protest group was significantly smaller, with some activists observing that supporters seemed “tired” and “demoralized.” ⁵

Background

Following the January 2017 “Women’s March on Washington,”  Women’s March, Inc. was initially created to advocate for abortion rights and related feminist issues. It became one of the two major organizations (the other being March On)  that were formed after the 2017 event. Many of the organizers of the Washington, D.C. event allegedly went on to work for Women’s March, Inc., while March On was largely staffed by organizers of local events outside Washington. ¹

Nine of the 14 people (13 women and one man) who were listed in significant organizing roles for the January 2017 Women’s March on Washington now have roles with Women’s March, Inc.⁶ Six of the women constituted the board of Women’s March, Inc. as of September 2018, including all four of the original Women’s March on Washington national co-chairs — Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez, Linda Sarsour, and Bob Bland — plus Breanne Butler (then the state and global coordinator) and Janaye Ingram (then the head of logistics. ⁷

Activities

Women’s March, Inc. pursues a general activist and protest agenda, organizing local and national marches and demonstrations. In contrast to March On’s emphasis on transforming its grassroots alliances into success within the electoral process, Women’s March, Inc. pursues a continuation of the protest agenda and a focus on national issues. ⁸

In March 2018 it sponsored “A Day Without Women,” a supposed general strike wherein women were to draw attention to their issues by declining to participate in the workforce or as consumers.⁹ The organization also sponsored the September 4, 2018 protests against U.S. Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, during which board member Linda Sarsour was arrested for disrupting the proceedings. ⁸

While Women’s March, Inc. was initially created to advocate on abortion and feminist-based issues following the January 2017 March on Washington event, the organization expanded towards left-of-center advocacy on policy issues. By January 2018, the organization encouraged members to get involved in initiatives against racial injustice, join protests against the deportation of illegal immigrants, and attend vigils for Syria. Women’s March activists told the New York Times that such “social justice” demonstrations were crucial to developing “diverse” coalitions. ²

Abortion Access

In December 2021, Women’s March, Inc. released a statement on its website condemning the Supreme Court’s decision on Texas’s S.B.8, the “six-week abortion ban,” which prevented the Biden administration from blocking the bill. In January 2023, several local chapters, including its D.C. chapter, held protests against the Supreme Court for its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, calling for a “summer of rage.” ^{10 11 12}

LGBT Advocacy

In 2023, Women’s March, Inc. joined the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), GLAAD, GLSEN, Family Equality, National LGBTQ Task Force, and over 200 left-of-center organizations in a petition against retail company Target while advocating for the company to reverse its decision to remove LGBT-based merchandise from its stores following criticism which the petition accused of being “extremists.” ^{13 14}

The People’s March

In January 2025, Women’s March, Inc. staged a protest of the second inauguration of President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. under a new name, “People’s March.” According to a Politico report, advocates in the crowd were reported as being significantly smaller, with some activists observing that supporters seemed “tired” and “demoralized.” ⁵

On July 4, 2025, Women’s March planned a “Free America” demonstration to protest the second Trump administration while advocating for increased abortion access.  ¹⁵

Controversies

Trademark Controversy

In addition to the January 21, 2017 Women’s March on Washington, there were similar well-attended rallies that took place across the nation that had no organizational nor legal affiliation with the Washington, D.C. event. Organizers of many of these local events held commemorative events on the first anniversary of the 2017 event, and have continued to participate in local left-wing activism. Many of these locals have affiliated with rival organization March On. ¹⁶

Prior to the first anniversary of the January 2017 rallies, U.S. and Canadian organizers of some of the local groups and commemorations received notice from Women’s March, Inc. that these locals were prohibited from using the phrase “Women’s March,” to identify and promote their groups because Women’s March, Inc. had applied for a U.S. federal trademark for the phrase. Additionally, the Women’s March logo, created by designer Nicole LaRue, was initially distributed freely to all Women’s March organizations, but by January 2018, Women’s March Inc. began to retract this commons licensing and enforce rules on who was able to use it. ¹⁷

In 2018, Canadian activists were informed by Women’s March, Inc. that they were only  allowed to use “Women’s March” and similar phrases if they formally applied to become a chapter. The local activists later found that the organization had appointed leaders for their chapter without acknowledgement or consent, with the local activists locked out of social media accounts and banned from commenting on pages. Alabama-based activist Amber Selman-Lynn had also received a letter from the national Women’s March demanding that she remove the phrase “March on the Polls” from her promotional materials due to using the wording “March On.” This and similar incidents allegedly pushed local activists to organize independently or with March On as a result. ^{2 1}

Antisemitism and Association with Louis Farrakhan

A number of Women’s March, Inc.’s original leaders appeared with or praised Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Black nationalist group Nation of Islam and a man the Anti-Defamation League has characterized as “America’s leading anti-Semite.” ¹⁸

On February 25, 2018, Women’s March, Inc. co-president Tamika Mallory attended a Chicago speech given by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, which included numerous derogatory swipes at Jewish people. In the speech, Farrakhan denounced the “Jewish controlled media,” called Jews “children of the devil” and members of the “synagogue of Satan,” and blamed Jews for the “degenerate behavior in Hollywood turning men into women and women into men.” ¹⁹

Ms. Mallory posted an Instagram photo promoting the event and received a favorable reference from Farrakhan during his speech.²⁰

She and other Women’s March, Inc., board members had portrayed themselves in the past as Farrakhan allies. “Thank God this man is still alive and doing well. He is definitely the GOAT [greatest of all time]. Happy Birthday @louisfarrakhan!,” Mallory said in a May 11, 2017, Instagram post, featuring a photo of Farrakhan with his arm around her.²¹

A February 2016 Instagram post showed a photo of Farrakhan speaking at an event in Detroit, with a Mallory caption reading: “The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan just stepped to the mic for #SD16DET… I’m super ready for this message! #JUSTICEORELSE #ForTheLoveOfFlint.”²⁰

Board member Carmen Perez posted a November 2016 Instagram photo of herself and Farrakhan shaking hands. It included favorable comments from Mallory and fellow board member Linda Sarsour, who said of Farrakhan “… the brother does not age. God bless him.” ²² Similarly, feminist activists expressed concerns to Sarsour about the International Women’s Strike singling out Israel in 2017, with its charter calling for the “decolonization of Palestine” and describing the Palestinian resistance movement as “the beating heart of this new feminist movement.” Sarsour later told activists to leave their Zionism behind if they wanted to stay in the feminist movement. Sarsour attended a Farrakhan rally in 2015, claiming “Nothing is creepier than Zionism,” and drew a distinction between antisemitism and racism by arguing that antisemitism was “not systemic” unlike “anti-black racism or Islamophobia.” ³

Mallory and Women’s March, Inc. received significant public criticism from allies and Jewish organizations following the February 25, 2018, Farrakhan speech. While no formal attempt at an explanation was made by Women’s March, Inc. for more than a week, Mallory and Sarsour engaged with critics on social media about the matter. Appearing to echo a longstanding antisemitic trope, Mallory said in a Twitter post: “If your leader does not have the same enemies as Jesus, they may not be THE leader!” Mallory received support for her push back from Symone Sanders-Townsend, the national press secretary of Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign. She also received support from the Nation of Islam’s paper The Final Call, which quoted one of her tweets in the body of an article titled “Farrakhan’s defenders challenge Jewish lies.” ²³ Mallory later denied that “enemies” referred to Jewish people. ²⁴)

The lack of a swift apology led Alyssa Klein, an employee of Women’s March, Inc., and one of the organizers of the January 2017 Women’s March on Washington, to announce her resignation from the organization.²⁵

Nine days after the incident, a statement from Women’s March, Inc., explained: “Minister Farrakhan’s statements about Jewish, queer, and trans people are not aligned with the Women’s March Unity Principle.”²³

Policy Agenda

The policy agenda of Women’s March, Inc., is expressed in what it calls “Unity Principles.”²⁶ While some of the principles were either supportive or in opposition to concrete policy goals, many others were less specific value statements. The organization aligned with a left-wing identity politics movement known as “intersectionality”; observers tied the intersectional movement to Women’s March leaders’ associations with Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Black nationalist group Nation of Islam. ²⁷

Support for publicly subsidized abortion on demand (“open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion and birth control for all people”), a higher minimum wage (“right to organize and fight for a living minimum wage”), and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. ²⁶

One example of the less defined policy positions is the statement regarding “disability rights”:

“We believe that all women’s issues are issues faced by women with disabilities and Deaf [sic] women. As mothers, sisters, daughters, and contributing members of this great nation, we seek to break barriers to access, inclusion, independence, and the full enjoyment of citizenship at home and around the world. We strive to be fully included in and contribute to all aspects of American life, economy, and culture.”²⁶

As of 2025, on its website Women’s March, Inc. claims to have outlined a “strategic framework” for creating a “feminist-led” political movement to abolish “sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” by 2050. The three main areas for this were “Promoting Feminist Economies” to  dismantle the “Billionaire’s Boys Club” while advocating for welfare and debt cancellation measures, “Reimagining Democracy” to advocate the relaxation of voter registration laws,  and “Ending White Supremacy” to eliminate the “underlying spread of white supremacist ideology” within “patriarchy and misogyny.” ²⁸

Financials

As of 2025, the last available tax return from Women’s March was dated to 2021. That year, the organization reported total revenue of $4,283,150, total expenses of $4,631,033, and net assets of $179,490. ²⁹

Leadership

In July 2019, board members Linda Sarsour and Bob Bland as well as co-president Tamika Mallory resigned from the organization’s board amid controversy over Mallory’s ties to Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Black nationalist group Nation of Islam, alongside additional accusations of antisemitic behavior, the trademarking controversy, and claims of financial mismanagement. Board co-chair Carmen Perez remained with the organization. Following the resignations, Women’s March Inc.’s appointed new board members including Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice activist Samia Assed, racial justice activist Charlene Carruthers, executive director of the Bay Area Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Zahra Billoo, Bend the Arc strategist Ginna Green, Mijente deputy director Isa Noyola, and former executive director of Race Forward Rinku Sen. ^{1 2 3 30}

As of 2021, Perez, Assed, Green, Noyola, and Sen were still sitting on the board, according to its tax return. ³¹

Rachel O’Leary Carmona was the executive director of Women’s March, Inc. as of 2021. ³¹

As of 2025, Tamika Middleton was the organization’s managing director. ⁵

1. Stuart, Tessa. “Who Owns the Women’s March?” Rolling Stone, January 20, 2018. Accessed July 4, 2025. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/who-owns-the-womens-march-204038/.
2. Stockman, Farah. “One Year After Women’s March, More Activism but Less Unity.” New York Times, January 15, 2018. Accessed July 4, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/us/womens-march-anniversary.html.
3. Shire, Emily. “Nine Days After Women’s March Co-President Shared the Love With Louis Farrakhan, the Group Got Around to Gently Rebuking His Anti-Semitism and Homophobia.” The Daily Beast, March 6, 2018. Accessed July 4, 2025. https://www.thedailybeast.com/nine-days-after-womens-march-co-president-shared-the-love-with-louis-farrakhan-the-group-got-around-to-gently-rebuking-his-anti-semitism-and-homophobia/?ref=author.
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8.  Daley, Kevin and Peter Hasson. “Women’s March Leader Linda Sarsour Arrested at Kavanaugh Hearing.” Daily Signal. September 4, 2018. Accessed September 19, 2018. https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/09/04/womens-march-leader-linda-sarsour-arrested-at-kavanaugh-hearing/.
9. “A Day Without Women.” Women’s March, Inc. Accessed September 19, 2018. https://www.womensmarch.com/womensday
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11. “WOMEN’S MARCH CALLS FOR A SUMMER OF RAGE AFTER SCOTUS DECISION TO OVERTURN ROE V. WADE.” Women’s March. Accessed July 5, 2025. https://www.womensmarch.com/newsroom/womens-march-calls-for-a-summer-of-rage-after-scotus-decision-to-overturn.
12. Noor, Poppy. “Women’s March draws thousands across US after Roe v Wade overturned.” The Guardian, January 22, 2023. Accessed July 5, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/22/womens-march-2023-roe-v-wade-abortion-rights.
13. HRC Staff. “BREAKING: Over 200 LGBTQ+ and Allied Organizations Call on Target, Business Community to Speak Out Against Extremist Anti-LGBTQ+ Attacks.” Human Rights Campaign, June 5, 2023. Accessed July 4, 2025. https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/breaking-over-200-lgbtq-and-allied-organizations-call-on-target-business-community-to-speak-out-against-extremist-anti-lgbtq-attacks.
14. Goldberg, Madison E. “200 Advocacy Organizations Outraged As Target Pulls Popular Annual Pride Month Products.” What’s Trending, June 6, 2023. Accessed July 5, 2025. https://whatstrending.com/200-advocacy-organizations-outraged-as-target-pulls-popular-annual-pride-month-products/.
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16. “About.” March On. Accessed September 19, 2018. https://www.wearemarchon.org/about
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20. Tatum, Sophie. “Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan delivers anti-Semitic speech.” CNN. February 28, 2018. September 19, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/28/politics/louis-farrakhan-speech/index.html
21. Instagram. Tamika Mallory. May 11, 2017. Accessed September 19, 2018. https://www.instagram.com/p/BT9wDcUBShs/?utm_source=ig_embed
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23. Shire, Emily.  “Nine Days After Women’s March Co-President Shared the Love With Louis Farrakhan, the Group Got Around to Gently Rebuking His Anti-Semitism and Homophobia.” Daily Beast. March 16, 2018. Accessed September 19, 2018. https://www.thedailybeast.com/nine-days-after-womens-march-co-president-shared-the-love-with-louis-farrakhan-the-group-got-around-to-gently-rebuking-his-anti-semitism-and-homophobia?ref=author
24. Crookston, Paul. “Nation of Islam Slams Black Members of Congress for Denouncing Farrakhan: Don’t Give Into ‘Satanic Jews’.” Washington Free Beacon. March 14, 2018. Accessed September 21, 2018. https://freebeacon.com/issues/nation-islam-leaders-dems-denouncing-farrakhan-dont-give-satanic-jews/.
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    Read more: https://forward.com/news/national/396393/is-louis-farrakhan-tearing-apart-the-womens-march/
26. “Our Mission: Unity Principles.” Women’s March, Inc. Accessed September 19, 2018. https://www.womensmarch.com/unity-principles/
27. Ahmari, Sohrab. “Why Intersectionality Eventually Legitimizes Anti-Semitism.” Commentary Magazine. March 21, 2018. Accessed September 21, 2018. https://www.commentarymagazine.com/anti-semitism/why-postmodern-intersectionality-imperils-israel-and-jews/.
28. “About Us.” Women’s March. Accessed July 5, 2025. https://www.womensmarch.com/about-us.
29. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Women’s March Inc. 2021. Part I, lines 12, 18, 22.
30. Lang, Marissa J. “Women’s March replaces three original leaders, after anti-Semitism accusations, with 16 board members.” The Washington Post, September 16, 2019. Accessed July 4, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/09/16/womens-march-cutting-ties-with-three-original-board-members-accused-anti-semitism/?arc404=true. Archive:https://web.archive.org/web/20240623053744/https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/09/16/womens-march-cutting-ties-with-three-original-board-members-accused-anti-semitism/?arc404=true.
31. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Women’s March Inc. 2021. Part VII – Compensation of Officers, Directors, Trustees, Key Employees, Highest Compensated Employees, and Independent Contractors.