DETROIT — Nearly everyone here had a story about where they were in January, the day after President Trump was inaugurated. Some packed into the streets of Washington, in a defiant demonstration against the new leadership and what it would mean for women. Others recalled marching beside grandmothers and daughters in Los Angeles; New York; Tulsa, Okla.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and elsewhere.
Nine months after the Women’s March, about 4,000 people, mostly women, gathered in Detroit this weekend for the Women’s Convention, which was seen as an extension — and also a test — of the movement that grew out of those marches.
In the halls of this convention, which at times had the mood of a raucous campaign rally, women were tackling a broad and sprawling list of issues, including Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, threats to the environment, mass incarceration, reproductive rights, workplace rules, the accessibility of child care, treatment of immigrants, protections for transgender people and more.
But with sexual harassment and assault, from Hollywood to state legislatures, a focus of national discussion, those issues emerged again and again in meeting rooms here. Women shared personal stories and urged one another to speak out, and they booed mentions of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, who rescinded Obama-era guidelines on campus sexual assault.
