PORTLAND, Maine — Organizers of The Women’s March on Washington have called for a national women’s strike for Wednesday, corresponding with International Women’s Day.
Following last month’s A Day Without Immigrants, this week’s A Day Without A Woman is billed as “a one-day demonstration of economic solidarity,” in the U.S., and is organized by the same group that spearheaded the Jan. 21 marches across the country to stand up to the Trump administration.
Women are encouraged to take a day off from doing any work — including shopping — and wearing red in solidarity.
On the group’s website, organizers cited “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. We recognize that trans and gender nonconforming people face heightened levels of discrimination, social oppression and political targeting. We believe in gender justice.”
In Boston, female chefs may strike, and in North Carolina, some schools are shutting down. In Portland, the University of Southern Maine’s Women and Gender Studies program leaders are holding a gathering in Monument Square from noon to 1 p.m. The protest is meant to show that society can’t function without the many forms of women’s labor.
At issue are women’s reproductive rights, economic inequity and misogyny.
“A rally to draw attention to the impact of women’s labor, both paid and unpaid in form of childcare, elder care and other, is a great idea,” said Genevieve Morgan, who led Maine’s Women March on Washington. “Women play a serious role in our state economy, and that should not be forgotten as the federal government starts to wreak havoc on reproductive rights and K-12 education.”
USM’s Women and Gender Studies department is closing its office for the day, and Director Lisa Walker said she won’t be teaching.
“Seems like a nice opportunity for conversation. By making it positive and being proud, we are setting an example,” said Walker. “A lot of feminists are concerned about the way the president talked about women, and the campaign leading up to the election. This is about hate crimes, not just women’s issues. The tone this administration set [and] the assault on transgender rights are all issues that concern feminists.”
Wendy Chapkis, professor of Sociology and Women and Gender Studies, is also striking.
“I don’t think it’s unique that women’s well-being and rights are under attack, but it’s a shocking departure from the direction we have been moving in,” said Chapkis, who has canceled her office hours to participate in the strike.
At the Monument Square gathering, women are encouraged to wear red and to bring drums, gongs, trash can lids, sticks, bells and whistles. There will be those who, like Walker, are striking from paid work and others, such as homemakers, who are encouraged to leave that load of laundry untouched.
Sympathizers are asked to buy local or not buy at all. Sticky Sweet, owned by the Dow sisters in the Public Market House, is donating all sales Wednesday to Planned Parenthood.
USM student Erica Hall, a member of the International Socialist Organization, is speaking on Wednesday night at a 7 p.m. forum at the university. The focus is on tools of power for women, including strikes. Activist and student Hamdia Ahmed will also speak. Around 100 people are expected to attend the talk held on the Portland campus in the Science Building.
