‘Women’s Strike’ Will Boycott Makeup, Cooking, and Fake Smiles
As of Inauguration Day, more than 7,000 women and counting are going on a two-day strike — from cooking, diaper duty, laundry, fake smiles, makeup, and more. It’s all part of a unique subset of protesters who are joining the Women’s March on Washington and various sister marches around the country.
A photo posted by National Women’s Liberation (@nationalwomensliberation) on Jan 13, 2017 at 12:57pm PST
“Join us in a two-day strike to protest Trump, Pence and the Republican Congress’ plan for us,” urges the event website of National Women’s Liberation (NWL), a feminist organization “for women who want to fight back against male supremacy and win more freedom for women,” stemming from a group originally formed in 1968.
“The Democrats didn’t pursue these plans when they could have, and now the incoming administration is promising to cut, undermine, privatize, or eliminate every social compact from public schools to Medicare to Social Security,” the organization says on its website. “They expect the family (that is, WOMEN) to fill in the gaps and pick up the pieces. NO WE WON’T. This strike is a warning. Our work can no longer be taken for granted.”
We are ready to march this Saturday! NWL has groups marching in DC and NYC. Join us!
A photo posted by National Women’s Liberation (@nationalwomensliberation) on Jan 18, 2017 at 9:20am PST
NWL organizer Jenny Brown elaborated on the call to action on Thursday. “We felt that part of it was that women were not being recognized for the work that we do,” she told the Observer. “We were basically being discounted, so if we stopped doing that work for a couple of days, some would notice.”
When the group gets 20,000 signatures, the website notes, “the strike will be ON.”
The strike website explains why the group is keeping track of the number of women pledging. “Sometimes organizations call for a protest strike, but there is no way to tell how many people are participating. The pledge count is a way to make it real,” it notes. “Our goal is 20,000 pledges. Why the 20,000 number? We are remembering the August 26, 1970 Women’s Strike in New York City which, according to the police, drew 20,000. It was a demonstration of the force of the new Women’s Liberation Movement which won us advances like reproductive rights and more equal job opportunities.”
A photo posted by National Women’s Liberation (@nationalwomensliberation) on Jan 14, 2017 at 10:47am PST
The full list of suggested duties to strike from includes: “Paid jobs, emotional labor, childcare, diapers, housework, cooking, sweeping, laundry, dishes, errands, groceries, fake smiles, flirting, makeup, laundry, shaving.” And the demands, the site goes on to explain, comprise a long list of tall orders: “An end to racist and sexual assaults, and all forms of bigotry; reproductive freedom, full access, and no coercion; National Health Care for all; a $15 minimum wage for all workers, no exceptions; protection and expansion of Social Security; childcare, free like the public schools, and paid family leave; R-E-S-P-E-C-T.”
Contingents of strikers will be present in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, as well as at demonstrations in New York City, Nashville, and Gainesville and Tallahassee in Florida.
Related: Debra Messing Will Join Women’s March ‘for the Civil Rights We Hold Dear’
Related: Want to Bring Your Kid to the Women’s March? Cool. Just Be Prepared.
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