Women’s March Global is a feminist advocacy organization. The Tides Center, the former fiscal sponsor of the group, called it the “global representation of all the sister marches around the world” that were born out of the January 21, 2017 “Women’s March” protest in the wake of the election of President Donald Trump. ¹

Women’s March Global subscribes to “intersectionality,” an ideology concerning race, class, and gender first formulated by Kimberle Crenshaw, a pioneer of critical race theory. ^{2 3} Its advocacy issues range from “global unity,” ending violence against women, abortion, and workers, LGBT, civil, disability, immigrant, and indigenous rights. ⁴

Background

Women’s March Global was launched as a project of Tides Center, a division of the sprawling left-of-center Tides Nexus. ⁵ It continued to be referenced as a project of Tides Center in press for a number of years after it was incorporated as a standalone 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization in 2017. ^{6 7}

Activities

Women’s March Global purports to be a network of more than 100 chapters worldwide with thousands of members. ⁸ A list of all its chapters is available on its website. ⁹

Women’s March Global is involved in international feminist campaigns in both leadership and supporting roles. One of the campaigns it supports is Global Count, a polling campaign that seeks to gather data from women around the world about what they want from their politicians and political movements. The webpage refers to COVID as a “global reset” that has given the organization the chance to allow all “voices” to be counted. ¹⁰

As of April 2022, the group was partnered with 16 Days of Activism, 22 to 22, Aborto Legal Ya, End Family Separation, #EndGBV, Free Saudi Arabia, Our Story, Stand With Kashmir, Together for Peace, #WeInvest, and Women’s Wave. ¹¹

In 2018, it was partnered with 16 Days, 22 to 22, Aborto Legal Ya, Believe Women, End Family Separation, End Gender Based Violence, End Slavery, Free Saudi Activists, Global Summits, Look Back March Forward, Seasons of Love, Still Marching, They Are Us, This Is Not Consent, Together for Peace, We Divest, and Women’s Wave. ¹²

Funding

In November 2017, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation gave $1 million to Tides Center to support Women’s March Global’s first international conference. ¹³

The group’s “supporting partners” include the Activism.media, Civicus, Equality Now, Durrell Communications, Wallace Global Fund, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. ¹⁴

Women’s March Global does not fund its members and chapters, but rather makes them apply for a grant to support their activism in a program it calls “System Change Grants,” funded by the group’s members. ¹⁵

Leadership

According to tax returns, the principal officer of Women’s March Global is Katie Simpson. ¹⁶

Betsy Scolnik is the board chair of Women’s March Global. Formerly she worked as the director of content and distribution for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where she helped identify target audiences and promote the foundation across media platforms. She had also worked at National Geographic, AOL Time Warner, and Xerox. She was the co-producer of TEDWomen, working there from its inception in 2010 until 2016. ¹⁷

Other board members include Mwanahamisi Singano, a programs director at African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET); Najet Zammouri, a human rights activist; and Charity Tooze, who also sits on the board of Women’s Earth Alliance. ¹⁸

1.  “‘Don’t Wait to Take Action’: An Interview with Women’s March Global’s Uma Mishra-Newbery.” Tides, 12 March 2019. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://www.tides.org/accelerating-social-change/womens-march-global-uma-mishra-newbery/.
2. “About Us.” Women’s March Global. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://womensmarchglobal.org/about/.
3. “Kimberle W. Crenshaw.” Columbia Law School. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/kimberle-w-crenshaw.
4.  “About Us.” Women’s March Global. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://womensmarchglobal.org/about/.
5. “Grants: Tides Center – For Support of Women’s Global Movement.” Hewlett.org. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://hewlett.org/grants/tides-center-for-support-of-womens-global-movement/.
6. “Determination Letter – Women’s March Global.” Internal Revenue Service (IRS). January 17, 2020. Accessed April 24, 2022.
7. “Women’s March Global receives $1M from Hewlett Foundation.” Medium.com. January 16, 2018. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://medium.com/womens-march-global/womens-march-global-receives-1m-from-the-tides-center-a6d4381b5f53.
8. ^[1] “About Us.” Women’s March Global. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://womensmarchglobal.org/about/.
9. “Chapters.” Women’s March Global. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://womensmarchglobal.org/chapters/.
10. Global Count. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://globalcount.org/.
11. “All Campaigns.” Women’s March Global. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://womensmarchglobal.org/campaigns/.
12. ^[1] “Campaigns and Toolkits.” Women’s March Global. 2018. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://womensmarch.global/.
13. “Grants: Tides Center – For Support of Women’s Global Movement.” Hewlett.org. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://hewlett.org/grants/tides-center-for-support-of-womens-global-movement/.
14. Partners.” Women’s March Global. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://womensmarchglobal.org/about/partners/.
15. “Systems Change Grants.” Women’s March Global. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://womensmarchglobal.org/resources/grants/.
16. “Tax Year 2018 Form 990-N (e-Postcard).” Internal Revenue Service. Accessed April 24, 2022.
17. “Our Team.” Women’s March Global. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://womensmarchglobal.org/about/our-team/.
18. “Our Team.” Women’s March Global. Accessed April 24, 2022. https://womensmarchglobal.org/about/our-team/