WASHINGTON, D.C. ― Across the country (and world) women and their allies answered President Donald Trump’s inauguration with a decisive call to action.

The Women’s March on Washington was a peaceful, rousing rally and then march ― one that got so large that many marchers never even made it onto the official route. The Huffington Post spoke with 13 women of different ages, sexual identities, ethnicities and religious identities, who came to downtown D.C. on Saturday Jan. 21.

Here’s why 12 women (and one wonderfully eloquent 8-year-old girl) joined the Women’s March on Washington:

“I marched from Selma to Montgomery, and I truly believe in the energy and the spirit of mass protest.” ―Susan, 83

“Women’s lives are under attack, so we’ve gotta fight back. I’m a member of a group called Rise... Many of us are veteran Act Up members, so we’ve been doing this kind of activism for over two decades.” ―Betsy Andrews, 53

“The rhetoric of the past election season has been so negative, and a lot of hate speech has been normalized in our society, and I don’t feel OK with that. I don’t want to be silenced, and I don’t want other people to feel like this is OK.” ―Joan Kao, 21

“My mom is an immigrant, so I’m first generation. She came here during the Vietnam War... I’m marching for her.” ―Audrey Nguyen-Bryant, 32

“I don’t like the way he talks about women. I don’t like the way he talks about people of color. I don’t like his talk about the wall. And I don’t like that this country is now in fear.” ―Soyini Madison, 67

“For equal rights for everybody: blacks, whites, male, female, some different genders.” ―Shaquana Henderson, 35

“I’m marching for equal rights for all, regardless of gender identity, race anything. Everyone should be equal and I think these next 4 years is gonna be difficult for all of us.” ―Kate Rowe, 25

“I’m a federal employee and I’m a scientist and I believe in evidence. I believe in facts. I believe in science. And we have to maintain the supremacy of facts over fiction and over opinion in making decisions. And so I march for women and I march for science.”―Elizabeth Stevenson, 41

“I’m marching because I think women should have rights and I agree with my mom that science is important.” ―Madeline, 8

“I’m a proud feminist. I love this. It’s really crazy seeing history made here, the day after history was... unfortunately made.” ―Erika Arora, 22

“I’m here for truth, justice and the American way. We’ve had little truth, we look forward to less justice, and the American way as I know it ― which is loving our neighbors and being the best we can ― seems to have gone away.” ―Karen Cord Taylor, 72

“Ever since the election, I’ve kind of felt like everyone was against me, based on my appearance, based on my religious beliefs. But it’s been so supportive to be here, and it’s made me feel like this country is my country.” ―Amina Madhwala, 23

“We elected a sexual predator-in-chief who has no respect for anyone. It’s a matter of our common humanity now.” ―Christine Clarke, 39