On Saturday, 150,000 people are expected to take to the streets for the Women’s March on Washington. The progressive demonstration is expected to be the largest of inauguration weekend as well as one of the largest in US history, and sister marches will be held in cities across the country and around the world.

The march follows a long tradition of protests organized by women. Many happened in the US, including the march on Washington in support of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1978, and the Million Women March, a movement of African American women which took place in Philadelphia in 1997. And Black Lives Matter was spearheaded by three black women: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi.

Here are six other examples – though there have been many more – of previous demonstrations from around the world, and the impact they had on politics.

Women’s march on Versailles: 5 October 1789

Aux armes, citoyennes! Women marching to Versailles. Photograph: Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis via Getty Images

Why did it happen?



Tensions were running high in France in 1789 as the political upheaval of the French revolution picked up steam. That summer, protesters had stormed the Bastille. At the same time, supplies of grain were running low thanks to a poor harvest, and the price of bread surged. In protest, a number of Parisian women gathered in the square, then marched on Versailles, where King Louis XVI held court, on 5 October.

What did it achieve?

Some men joined the women as they made their way to the city, in a crowd which was said to have numbered in the thousands. Eventually, some members of the crowd violently stormed the royal apartments in Versailles to make their demands. Afterward the king agreed to move the royal family to Paris to be closer to the people, and did not return to live in Versailles.

The rest is history.

Women’s suffrage parade in Washington DC: 3 March 1913

Suffragettes in 1913. Photograph: Paul Thompson/Getty Images

Why did it happen?



By 1913, the women’s suffrage movement in the US had long been brewing. The women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York, where the Declaration of Sentiments was read, occurred decades before in 1848. In those intervening years, there had been some movement at the state level to grant women the right to vote. A number of suffrage parades occurred in the early 1900s as the first mass demonstrations of the suffrage movement. This one, held in Washington DC, was planned for the day before the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson for maximum press attention, according to the Library of Congress.

What did it achieve?



Thousands took part in the parade which sought an amendment to the constitution, according to the Atlantic. After the march, at least 100 were hospitalized for injuries inflicted by spectators. The march was part of the years-long movement for women’s suffrage – and more marches followed, including a massive demonstration in New York in 1915.

Women finally were granted the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920.

Women’s march on Pretoria: 9 August 1956

At the 50th anniversary of the original march, a woman is seen wearing an ANC T-shirt in Pretoria, South Africa. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters

Why did it happen?

To protest against pass laws, which aimed to limit the movement of black people, 20,000 women marched on the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, on 9 August 1956. The significant gathering of women and their leaders delivered petitions against the pass laws being extended to women to the government, though the prime minister was not there to receive them, according to the Mail & Guardian. They then stood in silence for 30 minutes, and later sang a song which included a variation of the phrase “you strike a woman, you strike a rock”.



What did it achieve?

Protests against the pass laws took place before the women’s march and continued after, including one which became a massacre after police opened fire on protesters in Sharpeville in 1960. The pass laws were finally repealed in 1986.

The anniversary of the women’s march is now celebrated as National Women’s Day in the country and the month of August is known as Women’s Month. The march was re-enacted in 2006 for the 50th anniversary, according to the BBC. Last October was the 60th anniversary.

Icelandic women’s strike: 24 October 1975

‘In 1975, women were underpaid and underrepresented in government.’ Photograph: Loftur Ásgeirsson/Reykjavik City Museum

Why did it happen?



Iceland topped the World Economic Forum’s gender gap index again in 2016. But in 1975, women were underpaid and underrepresented in government. So they decided to strike – or as it was then called, the “Woman’s Day Off”, according to the BBC – to demonstrate their importance to society. On 24 October of that year, 25,000 women gathered on the streets of Reykjavik (in a nation of 220,000) and 90% of the female population did not go to work, cook, clean or take care of children.

What did it achieve?

Annadis Rudolfsdottir was aged 11 at the time. She recalled the strike for the Guardian in 2004, calling it “a wake-up call” and a “spur to action”. Vigdis Finnbogadottir became the nation’s first female president five years later, and credits that day with helping her get elected; other landmarks followed. But the pay gap still exists in the country, and there is still room for improvement.

Last October, on the anniversary of the strike, women left work at 2.38pm to symbolize the pay gap, according to the Atlantic.

Protests of abortion ban in Poland: October 2016

The ‘Black Monday’ protest against proposed ban on abortions in Poland. Photograph: Wiktor Dąbkowski/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Why did it happen?

Last fall, in Poland, politicians sought to further restrict abortion access in the country by proposing a ban on abortion in all cases and a prison sentence of up to five years for women who undergo the procedure, with doctors who assist also liable for prison. Introduced by the Stop Abortion coalition, the conservative Law and Justice party, which controls parliament, pushed the plan ahead to be scrutinized by a parliamentary committee on 23 September. The initial boycott was inspired by the 1975 strike in Iceland, according to reports.

What did it achieve?

Thousands of women, many dressed in black, boycotted their jobs and classes and took part in protest demonstrations on 3 October. About 30,000 had gathered in Warsaw’s Castle Square, chanting. Their efforts resulted in the parliament backtracking and overwhelmingly rejecting the total ban.

Protests resumed later in the month, after the introduction of a new proposal which sought to ban abortion when there is no chance the fetus will survive or in cases of severe abnormalities, and Polish women resolved to keep up pressure over the restrictions. Meanwhile, other protests against the Polish government have ensued.

Argentinian women against violence: October 2016

Women protest against violence against women in Mar del Plata. Photograph: Eitan Abramovich/AFP/Getty Images

Why did it happen?



In June 2015, women in Argentina took to the streets to protest the killing of 14-year-old Chiara Páez, who was a few weeks pregnant and beaten to death by her boyfriend. Demonstrators rallied around the slogan and hashtag #NiUnaMenos – meaning “not one less”, or no more women lost to gender violence. Hinde Pomeraniec, a journalist who helped to organize the march in Buenos Aires, wrote for the Guardian that a woman dies from gender-based violence every 30 hours in Argentina.



The following October, 16-year-old Lucía Pérez was drugged, raped and tortured in a horrific attack. The prosecutor described the attack as “an act of inhuman sexual aggression”. On 19 October 2016 – “miércoles negro”, or Black Wednesday – tens of thousands gathered in Buenos Aires and cities around South America to protest about the death of Pérez and numerous other harrowing femicides.



What did it achieve?

After the first protest in 2015, the supreme court justice Elena Highton announced there would be a registry of femicides established. Last July, Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, announced a plan to fight violence against women, according to the BBC. But activists are also trying to change the culture which they say underlies such attacks.