For almost a decade, demonstrators across the country have turned out each January for the Women’s March. They protest restrictions on bodily autonomy and show support for the rights of marginalized people. The Women’s March launched at the start of President Donald Trump’s first term.
The biggest marches take place in major metro areas like New York City and Washington, D.C. But they also happen in small towns in Alaska, like Unalaska — a fishing community of about 4,500. The Unalaska Women’s March took place Jan. 17.
M. Lynn Crane leads the local nonprofit Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence, or USAFV. She said the march was a collective effort from people all over town, describing it as “individuals coming together on a grassroots level and speaking out and demonstrating what we want for our community and our world.”
Crane said, “I feel frustrated that a lot of our signs are leftovers from previous years because we're still fighting the same battles that we were fighting not just a decade ago, but 40, 50, 60 years ago.”
Marchers gathered in the morning near the Carl E. Moses Boat Harbor. They showed off their signs, comparing slogans like “trust women,” “real men support women’s rights” and “abortion is healthcare.” One marcher arrived with an American flag on a pole at half-mast.
About two dozen people participated this year, which is a drop from the amount that came out for Unalaska’s first Women’s March in 2017. That year, over 80 locals marched in support of equal rights. Unalaskans have turned out for the Women’s March every year since, even during the pandemic.
Crane said the march highlights uniquely local issues too.
“We're a working town,” she said. “I think a lot of people feel so overwhelmed with just getting through the day and making sure their bills are taken care of [that] we don't have the energy to know as much about politics as we should, or to go to city council or to participate on the level that we really need to, to create a functioning society.”
Marchers made their way onto the bridge crossing Captains Bay, where seafood processors churn out massive amounts of product throughout the year. They headed toward Unalaska City Hall from there.
Curiously, they didn’t chant. Instead, they talked amongst themselves about everyday things while taking in the views and holding up their signs for passing drivers to see. Most drivers went by without reacting. They looked, they read, and then they continued on.
But every once in a while, someone showed their support with a honk and a wave. Marchers cheered in response.
Juliette Vries is a USAFV board member and has been a part of the Unalaska march before. She said the spirit of the march is always alive, and that it’s a way to start each new year with intention.
Vries said of the turnout in 2025, “I'm so pleased to see men joining in, because whatever is affecting women is affecting men and families.”
She also expressed surprise to see movement on the Equal Rights Amendment at the tail end of the Biden Administration.
“I wasn't aware that at the last moment, it got signed. So I'm stoked,” Vries said.
Just before the march, outgoing President Joe Biden announced his recognition of the Equal Rights Amendment as federal law. The amendment, better known as ERA, is a proposed Constitutional amendment that would explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. It’s waited for ratification since the 1920s.
Although Biden’s move didn’t carry legal weight, Vries wasn’t the only marcher to bring it up. Laresa Syverson, another local, said of the possibility of the ERA becoming federal law that she felt people had been waiting all their lives to see it pass.
Syverson’s mother, Sharon Svarny-Livingston, said she wants to see people “keep pushing ahead” for equal rights.
“I know that a lot of people are really, really tired of the fight, but I think a lot of people — especially people of color — are used to fighting constantly and hard and forever,” Svarny-Livingston said. “We just want people to know that that's something you have to do if you want to continue to have a life that is worth living.”
Svarny-Livingston said that although she’s discouraged to still be marching for the same things people marched for decades ago, it shows that “you can never give up.”
