How did you stand in solidarity on International Women’s Day?
Did you wear red, use a handy Snapchat filter celebrating the holiday, or show the world how a day would look like without women. The latter is referring to A Day Without a Woman. According to the Women’s March website, A Day Without A Woman recognizes, “…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” (Women’s March).
Participants could take part in A Day Without a Woman in a few ways, including calling off of work for the day, or not shopping (with the exception of small or minority businesses). Although all options made a statement, the most profound option of the three was taking the day off. This option literally showed the consequences of not having a female workforce, and boy, did it make a statement. Opinions on the event’s effects varied.
Tia Cherie, a Facebook user, said working women with children and minority women were at a disadvantage due to the plethora of teachers taking the day off.
“So many educators called off that Alexandria Schools will have to close tomorrow…One group gets to rejoice that their movement had an impact so huge that schools had to shut down while the other one has to have money taken out of their pockets. This is what happens when your feminism isn’t intersectional.”
The Day Without a Woman event poignantly brings up the concept of intersectionality, which is the overlapping of social categorizations created to better acknowledge all of the issues among the group. If certain groups of women were left vulnerable due to the event, is it really a victory for all women? Tell us your thoughts below.