For the women set to speak at Saturday's Women's March on Sydney, the demonstration is about much more than protesting the incoming US President.
The event is one of several taking place in cities around the world to coincide with the Women's March on Washington – which will protest the leadership of Donald Trump the day after his inauguration.
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Organisers in Sydney are expecting more than a thousand marchers to walk from Hyde Park to the US consulate at roughly the same time that Trump's inaugural balls will get underway in Washington.
It will be among the first to kick-off a series of solidarity marches across 30 countries over the inauguration weekend.
US musician Amanda Palmer, Aboriginal elder and activist Jenny Munro and anti-Islamophobia advocate Mariam Veiszadeh are among the Sydney headliners.
Although the march aims to show solidarity with those marching on Washington, organisers and speakers also hope to bring awareness to bigotry and marginalisation here in Australia.
Media personality Tracey Spicer will MC the Sydney event, and says she is doing so in support of global equality, solidarity and human rights.
"We're witnessing a time of fear and loathing, with the voices of women and minorities too often silenced," she said.
![Tracey Spicer will MC the march in Sydney.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170809101322im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/1/1/w/c/j/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtt0gy.png/1484905841563.jpg)
"This action says to our daughters that they are of equal value to our sons, to women that they deserve to live without harassment and abuse, and to men that they can be our allies in this quest."
Spicer added that the backlash against women's rights can only be resisted if people take action against it, together.
![Mariam Veiszadeh says for her the Women's March on Sydney is about sending a message about the importance of holding ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170809101322im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/6/k/8/z/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gtt0gy.png/1497525983863.jpg)
"Complacency is our greatest enemy," she said. "Marching with our sisters means we will be on the right side of history."
March organisers said they hope to create an inclusive environment to invite conversations around a diverse range of social and political issues.
![Women's march organiser Kate Taylor.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170809101322im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/u/r/t/9/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gtt0gy.png/1484905841563.png)
Veiszadeh said the march, for her, is not about disrupting Trump's administration. But she hopes to send a message about the importance of holding leaders across the democratic world to account, particularly with respect to xenophobic rhetoric which she said makes "political pawns" our of minorities.
"The normalising of xenophobia in the US has a ripple effect in Australia and in the face of such unprecedented hostility against minority groups we need to ... speak up against bigotry and injustice wherever and whenever it rears its head," Veiszadeh said.
"A lot of the issues we are seeing coming out of the US unfortunately are being replicated and echoed here in Australia. There is a connection there and we cannot ignore it."
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