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Downtown Buffalo filled for International Women's Day march

Hundreds of protestors turned out Sunday for a International Women's Day March in downtown Buffalo. The event was run by the Western New York Peace Center with 70 sponsors across the political and cultural spectrum.

Credit Mike Desmond / WBFO News
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WBFO News

Speakers called for equity on the job and in the classroom, as well as peace across the world. Speakers also want the Buffalo Common Council to be more balanced than it is now, with all nine seats held by men.

"A record number of women ran and won new political seats this November," said Cheryl Hughes, an at-large member of the Executive Board of New York State Teachers United. "We did not just contribute to the win, we killed it. But sadly, we still only occupy 23 percent of all elected offices."

Social worker Alessandra Duarte said Latino women aren't treated fairly.
 

Credit Mike Desmond / WBFO News
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WBFO News

"Latinas often face additional barriers making it difficult to obtain higher education and pay equity," she said, "but we currently make 53 cents for every dollar paid to a non-Hispanic White man. This is unacceptable and we deserve better."

Disability rights activist Marie Malinowski was there for the Poor People's Campaign.
 

Credit Mike Desmond / WBFO News
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WBFO News

"We get called a bunch of names I'm not going to repeat and it's not fair," Malinowski said. "It's our right to live. We are not a burden to society. We contribute to society just as much as anybody else and sometimes we are very hard working and we don't get enough pay to live."

Following most of the speeches, the protestors marched around downtown government buildings, including federal immigration court and the Erie County Holding Center.

Mike Desmond is one of Western New York’s most experienced reporters, having spent nearly a half-century covering the region for newspapers, television stations and public radio. He has been with WBFO and its predecessor, WNED-AM, since 1988. As a reporter for WBFO, he has covered literally thousands of stories involving education, science, business, the environment and many other issues. Mike has been a long-time theater reviewer for a variety of publications and was formerly a part-time reporter for The New York Times.