It seems that we’re riding yet another wave of the women’s movement.

The Women’s March on Washington in January — which inspired an estimated 5 million demonstrators across seven continents in 82 countries, including 60,000 in Toronto — signalled something is in the air.

But this is not a movement without its issues and there are still women to be heard and work to be done. Where do we go from here?

For International Women’s Day, we looked to local women for insight on the future of feminism, inclusivity and smashing patriarchy. Here’s what they told us:

Farrah Khan, 37

Sexual violence support worker, educator, queer Muslim artist. @Farrah_Khan

What did you make of the march?

We can’t act as if Trump is the first politician to fuel this hatred. When we’re marching and coming together in Toronto, we are saying “No more.” Not here and not globally. It is important for women to take up space and to get excited about this work.

This march is not the beginning. Many people, including our elders and godmothers of the movement, have been fighting for a long time. We need to build on their momentum every time we see injustice, be it on the streets, in our homes or in the community. We need to be rising with and for each other.

How can feminism get people of different colours and genders into the fold?

It’s not about getting people from marginalized communities into the fold but expanding what the fold is. It’s creating space for different visions of what equity looks like. We need to be continually thinking about who is left out and who needs to be included.

The movement needs intergenerational conversations, feminist godmothers, FEMtors that have institutional and movement memory so we’re not reinventing the wheel but building on the amazing pathways and conversations that have come from our sisters before us.

We need to share power.

Uzma Jalaluddin, 37

Writer, teacher, Star columnist: “Samosas and Maple Syrup.” @UzmaWrites

Did you march? What should happen now?

I didn’t march but fully support the women who did. I’m an activist in daily life, behind the scenes. I think there’s a sense that something very fundamental about American society is under attack right now and people feel it on a visceral, personal level. For me, as someone who is very visible, I understand so many people who are being placed, viewed and treated as outsiders. They are in a position that is unfamiliar to them but I’ve lived within and without the outsider status all my life. I live in the intersection of faith, culture and feminism. All the social justice movements, especially feminism, need compassion, empathy, understanding and tolerance. It would also be nice to see a wider variety of stories out there. I believe in the power of words. I think that feminists need to read each other’s stories.

How can feminism bring people in?

The way forward is not just to lean in but to lean on each other. Once we realize that (it will) make us feel our voices are heard and empower us. Instead of being exclusionary, now is the time to welcome and celebrate what we all bring to this movement. The idea of not discounting people who don’t look like us or talk like us is so important, especially in Toronto.

Ing Wong-Ward, 43

Associate Director for the Centre for Independent Living. @ingwongward

What happens now? What else does the movement need?

I do hope that the women who marched can take the power and goodwill they felt during that day and find ways to turn this into everyday resistance. Social movements aren’t solely built on large, visible demonstrations. They’re also built on the decisions individuals make to say they refuse to believe the status quo cannot change. The movement needs to be far more open to diversity and to find ways to share power with under-represented groups, including women with disabilities, who are too often rendered invisible within the feminist movement. Part of this involves white, CIS, straight, nondisabled women listening to women whose lives do not mirror their own, to hear what the feminist movement can do to be more inclusive. It involves hearing the experiences of minority women and actually listening to their critiques around feminism and racism, ableism, transphobia and homophobia without becoming defensive. White women need to ask themselves are they opening doors or creating barriers?

Did you march? What did you make of it?

I did not march in Toronto because I have found marches in the past to be inaccessible to me. Accessibility means more than having a barrier-free route. It means ensuring people such as me have enough room for my wheelchair. Having had (people trip over me) so many times, I now steer away from marches. I would march if I knew organizers had used accessibility checklists, developed by people with disabilities.

Septembre Anderson, 34

Activist, journalist @SeptembreA

Did you march?

I didn’t participate. The women with the least amount of privilege were left out of it. It seemed like more of a picnic or parade and not activism. The protest wasn’t a protest: It was a gathering. When you are taking selfies with police officers, you’re not really taking it to the man. But at a gathering, organizers have the ability to pass around petitions, do a mass-calling of politicians to change policies. To get to the streets is a tool to be used in addition to other things. (Women have) so much talent and power within us to do so many things that are also effective; we have this momentum, we just need to put pressure in the right places.

We also forget that education is an action. Often times, we step up to solve an issue without getting to what it actually is. We need to make sure that when we’re swinging, our punches land.

Education also means we look to ensure we’re not doubling efforts. There are organizations that exist already and need the manpower and momentum so we’re not doing what’s already being done .

How should feminism work to get folks of different colours and genders on board?

One critique is that white women need to bring us on board but it’s more like, “How do we work together?” It’s important to understand and accept that we’re working on the same issues but not together, that we’re working as teammates but not necessarily on the same team. Our diversity is our strength. We’re all working towards ending patriarchy; it’s not necessary for us to be in the same group doing that.

Men are a whole other thing and it’s valuable for men to do their work where they are. They don’t need to come into our group, they need to speak to other men. In the locker rooms where they’re talking about grabbing women by the p---- — that’s where their work is or in the board rooms where they alienate and exclude women from the conversation. To the men: Your work is with other men.

Kate Chung, 74

Toronto Raging Grannies

What did you make of the march?

Marches like this help build solidarity but I hope it’s not all focused on the United States. We’re brainwashed here to think that Canada is so wonderful and we live in the best country in the world but, I’m sorry, there are still things to fix. This is not a perfect place and I see things sliding backwards. I’m old enough to remember the 1970s when we had hope that change was coming.

Also, there’s no such thing as a just a women’s issue. Climate, the future of this planet, justice, refugees, pipelines, war and peace, homelessness — we’re not just fighting for our own grandchildren but all grandchildren. To be a Granny, you don’t have to be a certain age, a grandmother, or a mother. You just have to be a woman and have attitude. That’s it. We need to recruit.

One major criticism of feminism historically is that white women control the narrative. Is that fair and what can be done to correct this?

I think that’s an old criticism. The academics took over from the activist women (and) I think, today, a lot of the momentum is coming from visible minority women. I’ve seen a change. Movements go through stages. It’s just so important to be inclusive. Everybody should work on all sides — there’s enough work for everybody, God knows.

I would like to see younger women take the lead, coming up and taking action. This is why the march was so good; it was all ages, which is important. When you get old, you get tired and want to hand it off to other people who have the energy.

Diviya Leonard, 15

Blogger, activist, Grade 10 student @diviyaliveshere

What do you think the feminist movement needs?

I would say in one word probably men. A common argument that I often hear is that (feminism is) a women’s issue and should be fought for by women – but it’s for everyone, it’s quality for both sexes, it‘s an issue of humanity. Achieving gender equality requires both men and women and benefits both men and women.

Gwen Benaway, 29

Annishinabe/Mètis trans poet @GwenBenaway

What does the movement need right now?

To really focus on intersectional feminism. It’s time for us to move past divisiveness and embrace the strength, mission and perspectives of all women who are experiencing misogyny if we are going to really challenge and change things. There has been a fundamental rollback of our rights and equal access so we need to come together as diverse women and stand unified. (We have a) moment to leverage the unity of the moment and the strength of our unity. The way to do that is to call out men collectively, to call out misogyny. We’re finding new ways to challenge and question masculinity so looking for our intersectional identities gives us a myriad ways to think and to act and respond to these forces. It makes us stronger as a whole, it’s an enhancement. Once we let the voices that are already present rise up, we will be more powerful.

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How does feminism get men on our side? What does it need?

Bringing men along is important because they have a social leverage and power that we need to access and use. How do we bring that along? It’s kind of through intimate bonds. If they love and are connected to you, you can kind of push them to do stuff. We also have to ask our male partners to support us and stand with us and to be vocal in public spaces about supporting women and feminism and contributing to what we’re doing.

Feminism needs to focus on the voices of trans women because they are highly marginalized in society and in women’s movements, yet we have unique perspectives for dealing with misogyny and masculinity that are valuable.

Akio Maroon

Mother, Pride Toronto Board Member @AkioMaroon

What does the feminist movement need?

When we talk about feminism, about women’s rights, there is always the conversation about women’s choices and the conversation should always end at a woman’s right to choose what is beneficial for her. Things like abortion and sex work have been traditionally hot-topic issues because men disagree about what women should or shouldn’t do with their bodies. That conversation will be less so when we’ve tackled some of the social constructs behind that: poverty and inaccessibility for social climb. I think we should really focus on some of the really small things and build from there.

Hana Shafi, 23

Illustrator and writer @HanaShafi

What are your thoughts on today’s feminism?

These are movements that absolutely need to be more inclusive of trans women, women of colour, disabled women, queer women and women who are sex workers. A feminist movement cannot be successful if it is not intersectional.

The feminist movement needs to move beyond liberal, feel-good slogans if it really wants to address opposition effectively. There’s no room for silence right now. We need to keep pushing back, demanding that oppressive institutions be held accountable. We need to keep protesting harmful legislation. We need to keep giving to non-profit organizations that are championing for valuable resources for those who are most in need.

Caitlyn Kasper, 30

Anishinaabek/Blackfoot lawyer with Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto @catekasper

As an indigenous woman from a traditionally matriarchal society, what do you make of the women’s movement?

I thought the march was wonderful. It’s absolutely true that indigenous woman actively participated in all different parts of our society — spiritually, politically and economically — and our roles were different but equal to our men. That’s one of the most important aspects of indigenous feminism. So we, specifically, are fighting to dismantle patriarchal colonialism and how it’s affected our traditional societies, which is different from other branches of feminism because it was directly dismantled. Trying to get back to where we came from is a very specific experience.

What does the movement need now?

Whether it’s black women, indigenous women, sex trade workers or queer women, in all of those different communities there is strength so we need to realize the future is in recognizing each other as sisters and coming together with our differences but also with our fundamental likenesses. We need to ask how we can support each other. Our experiences are so parallel in so many ways. It’s about being an ally. Just because it isn’t your issue personally doesn’t mean you can’t offer yourself and your support in ways others say you can be helpful.

The only other thing I would add is that emphasis on self-determination: we need to be honouring and show respect to different groups for self-determination and defining feminism in a way that makes sense to them.

Kavita Dogra, 29

Founder of We Talk Women, co-organizer of the Women’s March on Washington: Toronto @WeTalkWomen

So you helped organize the Women’s March in Toronto, what’s next?

The committee started a Facebook group because we (were fielding) a lot of questions about what to do now. The group is to encourage ongoing discussion and sharing. People are eager to be active and it’s important to take that energy and guide it meaningfully. We want to connect people with the opportunities because it will help sustain their enthusiasm to be vocal and active in their local communities. We’ll also be inviting people to come to the Women’s Day rally that happens annually at the University of Toronto.

Kai Cheng Thom, 25

Storyteller, social worker, trans woman.

What does the women’s movement need?

An overhaul. While the idea of women’s freedom from oppression is powerful and important, feminism and its predecessors have been twisted to some pretty nefarious ends from the very beginning. And honestly, white women can go to the back of the line. Step aside and step back for women of colour. Hand the mic over. Spend money and time on promoting the efforts of women of colour activists.

I think there are a lot of smart, critical women out there who do not align themselves with feminism because it traditionally has not served them. Feminism should seek to work in equal partnership with all women who are struggling for survival and freedom.

Deb Parent, 59

Longtime activist, co-organizer of the Women’s March Toronto @NDPdeb

What do you make of this movement? What happens now?

This is a wave different from anything that we’ve seen because of how communities, diverse communities, are coming together to create it. This is watershed moment, where we are seeing fascism unfold in the U.S. and we are seeing the rise of white supremacy all around the world. The march was very much a direct way that men, women, their children, friends and families, could put their bodies where their values are. Sixty thousand people took to the streets here in Toronto and millions of people took to the streets around the world to stand for and demand a community, a town, a city and a world that reflected their values: love, equality, respect, inclusiveness, fairness. This is the kind of city we want to live in. This is the kind of country we want to live in. That’s not going away.

Janaya Khan

Co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Toronto. @Janaya_Khan

What does the feminist movement need right now?

The idea of feminism really needs to understand that without racial justice, there is no justice. I think what feminism needs is trans women, really and truly. Thus far, feminism’s been asking, “How do we get these women to the table?” And really, I think we need to ask questions like, “How do we bring the movement to them?” as opposed to expecting them to come to the movement when historically, feminism hasn’t spoken to these women at all. I think we should be looking to see it done differently this time, in our generation. We’re creating an entirely new discourse.

Why do women’s overlapping identities matter?

Too often, it is the most marginalized women that are left behind. Feminism has really become the fight against the imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy, and since we’re pushing back against something that’s so incredibly advanced and adept, the feminist movement needs to be just as adaptive and just as responsive to multiple needs and multiple identities. It only makes sense when the concept of feminism is translating for some of the most marginalized people; feminism identifies itself not by its name, but by its actions.

Kristyn Wong Tam, 45

City councillor, Urbanist @KristynWongTam

What does feminism need?

What I’d like to see us consciously coming together and recognizing that the differences dividing us is not so great and there is actually a lot more that we can do together. We have far more that connects us than divides us. If we divide the bonds of sisterhoods, like the fibres of a rope, they will become weak.

These answers have been edited and condensed.

With files from Hina Alam.