March 8th is International Women’s Day, an occasion that often passes with little fanfare. Media outlets with a primarily female audience will post articles along the lines of “X inspiring quotes from women on International Women’s Day.” Which is nice, and I do love reading those lists of quotes, but that’s certainly not all we can do.
This year, after the Women’s March in January, organizers took advantage of the observance to create another protest for women’s rights, the Day Without a Woman strike. Participants in the strike were asked to wear red, not go to work, and to avoid shopping from anywhere except small businesses owned by women.
“In the same spirit of love and liberation that inspired the Women’s March, we join together in making March 8th A Day Without a Woman, recognizing the enormous value that women of all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system–while receiving lower wages and experiencing greater inequities, vulnerability to discrimination, sexual harassment, and job insecurity,” declares the website dedicated to the protest.
Rallies were held across the country, including New York City, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. In New York, a bronze statue called “Fearless Girl” was installed opposite the bull statue on Wall Street. Some schools and a courthouse even closed because so many of the teachers and staff participated in the strike.
However, there were also critics of the protest who claimed that a strike prioritized wealthier women who could afford to miss work over lower-income women who couldn’t. Fortunately, people who couldn’t take the day off work and attend a rally or march could still participate in the protest, by wearing red to show their support or not shopping.
And in case you were wondering, according to White House officials, none of the female employees working in the White House took the day off.