WOMEN'S GROUPS SUFFER GROWING PAINS

Somewhere in the vast crowd, huddled with hundreds of thousands on a cold, rainy day, Elva Alvarez felt a moment of awakening, a spirit of sisterhood and surge of optimism.

On the bus ride from Houston to the 2017 Women's March in Washington, D.C., Alvarez had seen fellow riders cry as they watched "Selma," heard stories from marchers who had brought children and grandchildren, who traveled to honor lost loved ones. She had gasped in awe at the size of the march, one of the largest ever in the nation's capital.

It was, she says, "a cry from deep within, and it was female."

But Alvarez, a veteran activist who marched against the Vietnam War as a teenager, knew the march - no matter how big, no matter how energizing - was only the beginning.

"It was great but what will you do tomorrow?" Alvarez, who is 65, thought to herself. "Will the fire still be there?"

This week, the anniversary of the Women's March is being marked by rallies in 250 cities across the country.

In Las Vegas, a site chosen by the national Women's March because it is expected to be a battleground in the 2018 elections, a celebrity-studded "Power to the Polls" rally will take place Sunday.

The 2018 Houston Women's March will be held Saturday, and organizers expect hundreds to turn out.

But the anniversary is highlighting divisions that have cropped up over the past year: In Houston, women of color say the local Women's March organization has excluded them, while nationally there is a split over the mission of organizers.

The year since the historic call to arms, which drew an estimated 3 million protesters to marches in 600 cities across the country and around the world, has been one of change. It has been a year of women speaking up and speaking out.

* A record number of female candidates are running for and being elected to public office. Since Trump was elected, more than 26,000 women interested in seeking office have contacted EMILY's List, a national organization that supports Democratic women in politics.

* The rise of the #MeToo movement has sparked a growing awareness of sexual harassment in workplaces ranging from movie sets to auto factories, and brought about the fall of powerful men such as Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

* Several hundred actresses and female agents, writers, directors and entertainment executives created the Time's Up initiative to fight sexual misconduct.

"The women's march crystalized a moment. Women saw a sisterhood they hadn't seen before," said Vanessa Cardenas, a spokesperson for EMILY's List. "They saw that they were not alone in their thinking. It created a sense of community."

'Beginning of a movement'

Robin Paoli, a founding member of the Houston Women's March, knew something big was happening as soon as she started organizing last year's event. Within a day, she was besieged by phone calls, emails and text messages from volunteers eager to help. She had hoped to draw a couple of thousand people. More than 20,000 showed up - singing, clapping, chanting as they paraded to City Hall.

"It was clear that this was more than a moment in time," said Paoli, who has worked in non-profits and campaigned for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. "It was the beginning of a movement."

Since then, the group has focused on voter education and registration, holding a town hall with Rep. Al Green that drew more than 1,000 people to a beer garden, participated in rallies for gun control and immigrant rights, and hosted a phone bank in support of the Affordable Care Act.

The group, which is nonpartisan, also worked with the University of Houston to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1977 National Women's Conference, the only federally funded National Women's Conference in U.S. history.

"Definitely what we have been seeing this whole year is a result of the empowerment people feel," said Janice Character, a real estate agent, marathon runner and member of the Houston Women's March steering committee. "A lot of women, and men, had similar experiences, of really believing that they need to step forward."

Jessica DeFeo, a retail manager who lives in the Heights, could not take time off to attend last year's event, so she watched the day unfold on social media and through updates sent to her phone by friends.

"There was so much energy and momentum," said DeFeo, who realized that the march would "shift energy forward. It gave millions of women permission to be bold, to be bold with their voice, with their bodies."

The day after the presidential election, she formed Pantsuit Republic Houston, conceived as "a place women could come together that felt safe, where they felt heard."

The Pantsuit chapter, which now has more than 10,000 members, has concentrated on legislative calls to action, keeping members engaged on issues such as immigrant rights, lobbying against the so-called "bathroom bill" and Senate Bill 4, and organizing visits to the offices of Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn.

But the main focus has been to partner with existing organizations, such as Black Lives Matter and Indivisible Houston.

'I'm not on board'

Kandice Webber, a Black Lives Matter Houston leader, couldn't attend last year's march but helped raise money to send a busload of women to Washington. She cried as she watched the rally on her laptop.

For Webber, the election and march were the impetus to become actively involved. She went from financial supporter to person on the streets.

"I was so excited to see all these women flood the streets of D.C., and raise their voices together," said Webber, a registered nurse. "It felt like what we had been waiting for."

However, the last several months also have brought a dose of reality, testing the endurance of those new to activism and impatient for change - and exposing schisms between the Houston Women's March and other groups such as Black Lives Matter, Pantsuit Republic Houston and Indivisible Houston.

They fault the Houston Women's March organization for not including women of color in leadership positions and not actively participating in events staged by Black Lives Matter and other groups.

As a predominantly white organization, DeFeo says, Pantsuit Republic Houston makes an effort to support women of color and issues important to their communities - something she contends the Houston Women's March organizers have not done.

The decision by the Houston Women's March to remain nonpartisan and welcome Republican women also has been a point of division.

"Do you remember what white Republican women did?" said Webber, referring to exit polls that indicate 53 percent of white women voters cast ballots for Trump. "If you are more concerned about them than black trans women under full-on attack, I am not onboard."

The Houston Women's March leaders say they are puzzled by the criticism, noting that the group's steering committee includes women of diverse backgrounds.

"It is crucially important that women of color, people of color, people who represent a spectrum of life, ethnicity and gender are included and that those voices are amplified," Paoli said. "We are working toward that goal and working to advance those voices."

Paoli also defended her organization's decision to remain nonpartisan as a way to make lasting change.

"We have seen folks in silos having trouble breaking out of those silos to talk in meaningful ways," Paoli said. "We are trying to create spaces and conversations with people who might not talk to each other."

The growing pains and conflicts in the women's movement also are present on the national level. Even as the #MeToo tide has grown stronger, a debate has emerged about whether the reckoning has become too strident and does not allow for nuances between sexual harassment and boorish behavior.

March inspires women to run

In October, a #WomenBoycottTwitter action, created to support actress Rose McGowan, was countered by #WOCAffirmation, led by black women who felt that their voices and causes often are ignored by white feminists.

Nationally, a newer group, called March On, has splintered off from the official Women's March organization, which focuses on social justice rallies. March On's primary mission is to win elections, especially in red states.

Last year's march and presidential election helped prod a record number of women to run for office.

According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, about 79 women are running for governor in 2018. The number of women running for U.S. House seats also has jumped, with 314 likely Democratic female candidates.

In Texas, Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez - a gay Latina Democrat - is running for governor, with another 48 potential women candidates for U.S. House and three for U.S. Senate.

Lina Hidalgo, a 26-year-old Colombian immigrant who is running for Harris County Judge, says she feels an urgency to run.

"This is the year in which the future can be borne," Hidalgo said. "The Women's March very much reflected that. We don't have the time to wait until it's convenient for us."