Growing up, International Women’s Day was a day we commemorated in my immigrant household but didn’t celebrate, exactly. We were trying to be all-American and it didn’t escape us that no one was carrying flowers in Brooklyn each year on March 8.
Still, one or both of my parents would wish me a happy Women’s Day over breakfast, almost with a laugh at how goofy that sounded. It was so old world. My parents would tell me stories of International Women’s Day in the Soviet Union. They would give flowers to the women in their lives, not just a sweetheart but also teachers, bus drivers, classmates. It seemed so utilitarian, this celebration of half the population. What was happening on the other 364 days that a flower would be necessary?
In the last few years, International Women’s Day has been seeping into American culture and this year it’s culminating in a strike ostensibly to protest the Donald Trump administration and their curtailing of women’s rights. Which rights we are losing is, of course, unclear. The organizers of the strike are asking people to wear red in solidarity, not engage in paid or unpaid work, and to avoid spending money. If it sounds like a lot of people are planning to sit around watching TV all day while others work around them, that’s probably right.
Several school districts around the country say they will close due to the strike. The problem is, when women strike and close a school, it’s going to be other women picking up the slack. The kids aren’t going to be left to fend for themselves. “Sorry, kids, mom is off today” isn’t an argument they’re going to understand. Sure, maybe some dads will take off from work and let their wives join the “strike” by not taking care of the kids, but are there going to be a lot of supportive men OK with their wives neither working nor caring for the kids for some vague, undefined protest?
This strike is also a moment where the popular phrase “check your privilege” fits nicely. The people able to take a random day off are going to be the ones who don’t have an hourly job and generally have an easier, or more privileged, life. The ones who won’t be able to take the day off will likely be filling in the striker’s responsibilities. The organizers have a suggested “away” message for participating women to use at work. It includes “For anything urgent, please contact [Insert name of male colleague covering your work, if applicable].” Isn’t the purpose of a strike to show that the work can’t get done without you? Aren’t the men who cover for you “scabs”?
Yes, we can’t live without women. But we can’t live without men either. Each play important roles in our society. It’s why International Women’s Day never really caught on in America. There’s something more than a little patronizing about a pat on the head once a year and a flower from an acquaintance. And there’s something more than a little misguided about the most fortunate women in our society taking the day off and hoping everyone around them will notice.