a day without women
Tomorrow is International Women's Day, and as you may know, women across the country are planning to take the day off work, paid and/or unpaid. Dozens of school districts have canceled school because so many teachers, who are mostly women, will not be at work.
I applaud the women who are able to take this particular action, but I will not be participating in the women's strike. If I take an entire day off, I'll lose money and make people angry, and I'll have trouble getting hired again. I get that this day of action is supposed to be disruptive, but for my particular work situation, it would totally backfire. Also, I work almost exclusively with women (not because there aren't male musicians; it's just how things have worked out this year) and making their lives harder, even just for a day, would kind of defeat the purpose of this whole thing for me.
I will wear red, however, and maybe even scare up a red ribbon to pin to my jacket so it's a little more obvious I'm wearing red for a reason (I like red, in fact, and should wear it more often!)
I'm also told that participants in this day of action are not supposed to buy anything. Right, I wasn't planning a mid-week shopping trip anyway and I always pack a lunch, so no problem there. If you must buy something, buy it from a woman-owned business...presumably a women who isn't taking the day off and closing her shop or restaurant.
Mostly, I see the Women's Strike as sadly ironic, because the women who are most overlooked and least empowered to do something like take the day off, are least likely to be able to.
I applaud the women who are able to take this particular action, but I will not be participating in the women's strike. If I take an entire day off, I'll lose money and make people angry, and I'll have trouble getting hired again. I get that this day of action is supposed to be disruptive, but for my particular work situation, it would totally backfire. Also, I work almost exclusively with women (not because there aren't male musicians; it's just how things have worked out this year) and making their lives harder, even just for a day, would kind of defeat the purpose of this whole thing for me.
I will wear red, however, and maybe even scare up a red ribbon to pin to my jacket so it's a little more obvious I'm wearing red for a reason (I like red, in fact, and should wear it more often!)
I'm also told that participants in this day of action are not supposed to buy anything. Right, I wasn't planning a mid-week shopping trip anyway and I always pack a lunch, so no problem there. If you must buy something, buy it from a woman-owned business...presumably a women who isn't taking the day off and closing her shop or restaurant.
Mostly, I see the Women's Strike as sadly ironic, because the women who are most overlooked and least empowered to do something like take the day off, are least likely to be able to.
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