#DayWithoutWomen Strike Goes Down March 8th—Here's Everything You Need To Know

In the age of Trump, protests are becoming more and more common. But could this one be the biggest yet?

Women from all over the world are being asked to strike against both paid and unpaid labor this March 8th in what organizers are calling the “Day Without a Woman.”

The inspiration for the strike came just over a month ago. Seeing the massive success of the Women’s March following Trump’s inauguration, the founders of the International Women’s Strike USA decided the time was ripe for a more widespread protest.

“I think it was the January 21 mass mobilization during the Women’s March that gave many of us the confidence that the time was right to actually take up the call that the feminists internationally had given for March 8,” according to Tithi Bhattacharya, one of the organizers of the strike.

The plan is to call upon every woman in the world to basically ‘sit out’ on the 8th. That means skipping out on their paying jobs, as well as the domestic housework that so often goes overlooked. And if someone finds themself in a position where they simply can’t take a day off – single mothers, for example – supporters are asked to wear red in solidarity.

“The strike is very consciously using a diversity of actions to talk about women’s labor, because women’s labor is most often rendered invisible, both by society and by policymakers,” continued Bhattacharya. “To strike as a woman worker is not just to strike in the workplace, but to understand the unity between domestic roles and public roles that as women we constantly have to straddle.”

There’s also a push for women to not buy anything that day, unless it’s from a small woman-owned business.

Organizers admit that they’re not sure how to measure the effects of their movement, but they still expect massive participation. “It will be quite large in cities, like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia,” according to Bhattacharya. “In other cities, it will vary in size, but I think this is going to be a significant mobilization nationally.”

Will you be supporting #DayWithoutWomen?