During the Civil Rights Movement, it was raining men. The so-called "Big Six" leaders who organized the March on Washington were all guys. It was pretty much a screening of Monday Night Football in a "no girls allowed" tree house.

So where were the women?

They were definitely participating in the sit-ins, protests, bus boycotts, marches, and organizing. But according to at least one woman involved in the movement, Anna Hedgeman, they got pushed to the side by the boys.

In the '50s, Hedgeman had become the first woman to serve on the New York mayoral commission. Over her early career she built up more connections with the African American Protestant community than a circuit board. A significant number of African American Protestants showed up at the March on Washington at her behest. (Source)

Hedgeman was part of the official committee that organized the March, alongside the "Big Six." Hedgeman opposed Martin Luther King, Jr. and A. Philip Randolph on their decision to exclude other women from the committee. She was outnumbered, so things didn't turn out as she would have liked. Her efforts to get a woman a major speaking slot at the event failed. The only woman to deliver remarks was Daisy Bates, who only presented other women (like Rosa Parks) with awards for their service.

During the March on Washington, prominent women were grouped into a single bloc with the wives of the major leaders—yep, they didn't even go boy-girl, boy-girl. (Source)

Discrimination based on race was doubly difficult for African American women, who also had to deal with discrimination based on gender. Remember, this was the '60s—an era of blatant sexism in much of mainstream society and media.

But Hedgeman didn't stop advocating for women beyond the 1963 March. She was one of the original founders of the National Organization for Women…proving once and for all that the idea of a "weaker sex" is patently false. (Source)