Women from Bermuda will be among hundreds of thousands of people taking part in the Women’s March on Washington tomorrow, on the first day of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Journalist Clare O’Connor and student Kayley Gibbons both plan to attend the rally on Independence Avenue, which has inspired hundreds of “sister” events around the world, including in Bermuda (see separate story).

Ms O’Connor, a staff writer for Forbes who covers women entrepreneurs and workplace equality for the business magazine, said it would be “crazy” for her not to attend the event in DC, considering her reporting beat.

But she added that she had a personal interest in the way women’s healthcare and reproductive rights were tied into their economic freedom and huge concerns about the new Trump administration rolling those rights back.

“It’s going to be absolutely huge and I think it’s going to be a much bigger event than the inauguration, just by order of magnitude,” said Ms O’Connor.

Ms Gibbons, a student at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut, will have a seven-hour drive down to the capital with several school friends and parents.

“I’m not American so politically it doesn’t affect me that much, but I think Donald Trump’s ideas have a very negative effect on women in general,” she said. “The message he puts out: it’s a very dangerous kind of a message.”

Ms Gibbons, 16, said she and her schoolmates at Miss Porter’s were passionate about politics, particularly about democracy.

“When Trump got elected, it was very heartbreaking for a lot of girls to know that someone like that could become president and be seen as the face of a country.

“I think the most heartbreaking thing was that he has been [accused of] sexual assault and people have recorded him saying things about women. The fact that someone like that could become the president, against probably the most qualified person ever, it’s a very harsh message for women.”

She said she was taking part to show that “what we stand for and what we believe in will always suppress people like that”.

“Even though he may be president, he does not stand for what a lot of American girls believe in and a lot of American people,” added the teenager. “It’s people coming together as a community to show there will always be support there [for equal rights].”

Ms O’Connor, 34, noted that the United States “remained the only developed country in the world with no laws guaranteeing paid parental leave of any kind”.

She said many millions of women were hoping after the November 8 election to have a female president who would push for just such a federal law and instead ended up with Donald Trump.

During his campaign, the president-elect promised mothers — but not fathers — six weeks of access to unemployment benefits; Clinton pledged 12 weeks of paid family leave for parents of newborn or newly adopted children.

Ms O’Connor, who volunteers for two organisations which advocate for women, said paid leave for parents was a “privilege” in the US, but should be a right, as should the right to access contraception and abortions.

She added: “Part of the reason for this march is to say ‘we are not going to accept a world in which not all women have access to birth control, and [one in which] you are going to try to roll back abortion rights and not mandate paid parental leave’.

“Women — especially working class and women of colour — are just punished at every turn. You don’t want us to use birth control or have abortions. You want us to have children, then deny us paid [parental] leave. The purpose of the march is to recognise that all of these issues intersect. Social issues and reproductive issues and human rights; they are all tied up.”

She said the president-elect’s Cabinet included some with “extremely far-right” views who would damage women. “I am glad that this march is happening. It’s not a protest against Trump. It’s making a statement by showing up to say ‘we can’t go back’.”

She added that the demonstration, which at least 200,000 people are expected to attend, was a way to speak up for the country’s most vulnerable people, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, those identifying as LGBT and those on low incomes.

“I think what we are trying to do is keep some of the norms that are threatened to be overturned,” said Ms O’Connor. “It’s going to be a long day, probably freezing cold, [but] it’s really important that there is a big physical presence, just to show we are here and we are not going anywhere.”

As well as the DC event, 616 marches are planned in 151 cities across 58 countries, with 1.3 million registered participants worldwide.

Bermuda’s gathering is at Queen Elizabeth II Park between 9am and 11am.