WHY WE MARCH: THE ROLE OF GRIEVANCES, THREATS, AND MOVEMENT ORGANIZATIONAL RESOURCES IN THE 2017 WOMEN'S MARCHES

We use Metropolitan Statistical Area-level data to investigate the emergence and size of the 2017 Women's Marches. Our findings indicate that the protests can be understood through both grievances and threats felt in the aftermath of Trump's election and movement organizational resources. While the impact of movement resources is as expected (more protest in MSAs with greater resources), the effect of grievances and threats is complex. Cautions concerning the marches in both African American and Hispanic communities result in negative influences on protest in MSAs with larger black and Latino populations. Also, heightened grievances/threats generally do not increase the occurrence of the Women's Marches, but some grievances/threats, specifically among feminists and those voting for Clinton, increase the size of protests. We also do not find significant interactions between grievances and movement resources. Our findings suggest that because post-election grievances/threats were strongly felt, protesters did not need movement organizational leaders to help them define their grievance. They simply needed movement groups to provide venues for protest, that is, a coordinated set of sister marches. We conclude that researchers should consider both the type of grievances and threats and how grievances/threats and organizational resources work alongside one another to promote protest.