The UK organisers of the global Women’s March have called on people to once again gather in protest, a year after millions marched in seven continents.



Saying it is time for a “conscious revolution”, they have urged women to capitalise on the momentum created in 2017 by rallying outside Downing Street at 11am on Sunday – a year and a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump, which sparked the initial protests. Other UK rallies are being held in Bristol and Sheffield.

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, the founder of the Women in Leadership publication and co-organiser of Women’s March London, said that in the centenary year of some women gaining the vote, people in the UK should follow the suffragette maxim of “deeds not words” and once again take to the streets.



“Put your feet where your mouth is. Don’t wait for someone to invite you to the table, take your own chair there,” she said. “If they are not going to create space for you, create your own platform.”



Mos-Shogbamimu said 2017 was a year that amplified women’s voices, with the mass demonstrations against Trump and misogyny and the explosion of the #MeToo anti-sexual harassment campaign.



“There was a lot achieved last year in terms of the prominence of women’s voices on the global stage and global platform,” she said. “I see 2018 as a period of infinite opportunities to bring home that message about bringing an end to these issues that have held women – and men – back.”

In January, 300 female Hollywood actors, agents, writers, directors, producers and entertainment executives launched the Time’s Up campaign to counter sexual harassment in the entertainment business and workplaces. In the same spirit, this year’s Women’s March London is being called the Time’s Up rally, and about 2,000 people have said they will attend on the event’s Facebook page.



“One year on, we are coming together to say Time’s Up,” the organisers write. “Time’s Up on gender-based violence, sexual harassment and abuse. Time’s Up on the systematic and politically motivated underfunding of the services survivors depend on. Time’s Up on victimising survivors and allowing abusers to avoid accountability. Time’s Up on the misogynistic abuse of women on social media. Time’s Up on the culture that tells men they are entitled to women’s bodies.”

