Following the National Women’s March on Washington DC, this Wednesday is the national “A Day Without a Woman” strike. Women (and men) across the country will participate by wearing red, spending money exclusively at businesses owned by women, and most importantly, striking from work to demonstrate the invaluable amount of effort, thought, and dedication women contribute not only to their individual workplaces, but to the national economy as a whole.
There’s no denying that this strike is politically driven and has clear political objectives, but putting aside political beliefs and opinions, we believe the goal of this strike to be both worthwhile and incredibly salient. The work women do at Redox is every bit as needed and meaningful as their male counterparts, so much so that it’s entirely possible a customer could hear about us, contact us, and move through our integration process from beginning to end working exclusively with women.
Given the chance to highlight how much we value our women’s contributions to Redox in a demonstrable and meaningful way, we’re happy to participate and support this strike. Read on to hear the women of Redox share their thoughts on why this strike is important and what participating means to them.
Paige Goodhew: Throughout history, women have had to fight for rights to participate in many aspects of our society and get respect in the professional and government worlds. While HRC was far from being a perfect candidate, she was one of (if not the) most experienced candidates to ever run for president—and she still lost. Many women mourned this not because of HRC, but because it was a slap-you-in-the-face reminder of how much harder women have to fight and how much better women need to be in order to achieve what they deserve and have earned. On top of that, many of the current government leaders have been openly disrespectful towards women to the point that we’re finding ourselves in a defensive position—a feeling I’ve never experienced. I’ve spent my life looking up to the women before me that didn’t take no for an answer and fought for their rights. It’s our time to pick up the fight and keep moving forward.
Liza Gilhuly: The Women’s March in January gave us a glimpse of how powerful women are and of what we can achieve when we’re clear-headed and fed up, but I think A Day Without a Woman is going to really show us the breadth of our power. Not only do women make up a significant portion of the paid workforce, but they also complete most of the unpaid labor done across the U.S. (and world). Stepping away from that work for a day to go to rallies and other events is going to demonstrate our influence and unify us even further.
Rebecca DenHollander: For me, A Day Without a Woman is about so much more than how I feel on a personal level, and more about how I show my support and solidarity for our community. I’m grateful to work with this amazing team, where each of us treats each other with respect, ideas are respected regardless of gender or the color of our skin, where our CTO (who is quite possibly the most inappropriate person on the team) can school the Slack masses on the difference between equality and equity in a heartbeat. We live in a bubble. Take a few minutes today to ask a woman her story, take a few minutes today to read an article that you wouldn’t normally read on rights—women’s, black, gay, trans… and then take a few minutes to really put yourself in someone else’s shoes and attempt to *feel* what they feel. Until all humans—black women, trans persons, non-gender conforming persons—are treated with that same level of respect, until we break down the learned sexism, racism, and bigotry, I will use my privilege and position to speak out and speak up.
Annie Gallagher: Because the point of a general strike is essentially to press the pause button on the economy (including any institution that’s important for a community to function such as shops, schools, transportation, and businesses) as a harsh reminder to the government that it works for the people and not the other way around, this strike is important in today’s America. I’m here as a woman and an ally to support minority communities: women, POC, trans, nonbinary, LGBTQ. I’m here for my best friend and other individuals who won’t have access to basic healthcare if PP is defunded. I’m here for our children who will grow up knowing the President joked and bragged about sexually assaulting women before being elected, and still, he was elected. I’m here because the stereotype threat is real and prevalent. I’m here because things like this still happen.
I’m here because, in the words of Linda Sarsour, “dissent is the highest form of patriotism [… and] I don’t want to look back forty, fifty years from now and think ‘Hmmm, I really sat back and did nothing when fascism was reigning over the United States of America.’”
Julia Zehel: Women aren’t treated as equals in the workplace and beyond. Women of color, minority women, transwomen, nonbinary people, and LGBTQ people frequently don’t get a fair shot at securing jobs they are qualified for simply because of who they are and what they look like. That’s deeply messed up. If we can raise awareness around this issue, then of course we’re all for it, because have hearts and common sense.
Kristin Fox: I rely HEAVILY on women every day. I have 3 kids in school full time and all their teachers are women, so if they decide to strike, I have to consider how that impacts me. As far as I know, they aren’t striking, so I don’t have to worry about last minute child care… but that somehow feels wrong too. I mean, women have the ability to shut down schools, it’s pretty incredible. Also, there’s so much at play when it comes to women in the workplace—their effect goes well beyond the office and a day without them will have consequences for both their companies and their families. I’m 100% a feminist though and I definitely feel like women (myself included) have a ton of unpaid responsibilities that get no credit.
Rashauna Mead: I think the women’s strike is important for all of the reasons the Redox women have stated, and it is extremely important that we show up and voice how we feel. How can we expect anything to change if we aren’t willing to participate in the change or at the very least call for a change?
Alicia Pressley: I initially approached Day Without A Women with trepidation, but certain aspects have gained my trust, and I’m proud to be standing in solidarity on Wednesday. This article from Advocate and this one from Refinery 29 assuaged my fears by addressing the intersectionality and inclusivity of this feminist activism. It means a lot to me that this event has Unity Principles which denote the importance of fighting for ALL women to have rights and support each other. In addition, we have the opportunity to collectively use the privileges we have to affect economic, legal, and social change, from showing solidarity and awareness to learning how we can collectively select the public servants who best serve the interests of the populous, all deserving of feminist equal rights.
The contributions women make are important to perpetually highlight and celebrate, because they’re often overlooked and taken for granted. We recognize that though everyone at Redox values our female colleagues, this isn’t nearly as commonplace as it should be. Echoing Rebecca’s sentiment’s above, until society breaks down it’s pattern of discrimination and sexism, we’ll take every opportunity we can to participate in activism for women’s rights and broaden awareness for a problem that’s in everyone’s best interest to fix.