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‘A Day Without a Woman’ Protest: Marches, Closings and Arrests
‘Day Without a Woman’ Protest Tests a Movement’s Staying Power
(about 3 hours later)
WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, during a nationwide demonstration called A Day Without a Woman, organizers of events like the Women’s March on Washington were trying to pull off another high-profile mass action. It was a test of whether anti-Trump fervor can be turned into a sustained political movement.
Once again in the young presidency of Donald J. Trump, women rallied against his administration on Wednesday, this time by skipping work, wearing red and refusing to spend money. But the protests were far smaller than the masses who turned the women’s marches on Jan. 21 into a phenomenon, keeping the question open of whether protesters’ fervor can be channeled into a sustained movement with demonstrable political results.
The event, organized by several of the leaders of the women’s march and in conjunction with several women’s right groups, is the latest in a series of demonstrations since Inauguration Day that rely on strikes or boycotts to protest the Trump administration. Check back here for updates throughout the day.
In New York City, hundreds of people jammed into a Midtown block, and the Women’s March on Washington said 10 of its organizers were arrested there for blocking traffic. The municipal court in Providence, R.I., shut down because seven of the clerks and a deputy court administrator stayed home from work. Schools in Alexandria, Va.; Chapel Hill-Carrboro, N.C.; and Prince George’s County, Md., closed for the day because so many teachers stayed home.
Officials in Providence, R.I., said the absence of seven women who work as clerks and of one deputy court administrator had led the municipal court there to be mostly closed. The women handle many of the nuts-and-bolts operations.
The strike was held on International Women’s Day, and President Trump weighed in early with a restrained statement, writing a message of respect on Twitter for women and the role they play in the economy.
“That the court had to shut down in their absence, I think, is telling,” said Michaela Antunes, press secretary for the Providence City Council.
Later, in Washington, women rallied near the White House to protest the “global gag rule” banning federal funding for any organization overseas that discusses abortion as a family planning option. But Rebecca Wood, 37, who brought her 4-year-old daughter, said her complaints were broader. “I used to list so many things on a sign,” she said. “Now I have so many concerns, I just have a sign that says ‘RESIST.’”
“Some staff was on site today to assist anyone who wasn’t aware of the closure,” Ms. Antunes said. “Seven scheduled trials were heard in court, but no judgments have been processed today. No payments have been entered. Any mail received today will be processed with today’s date tomorrow.”
It was always unlikely that a general strike, labeled “A Day Without a Woman,” would produce the same turnout as the post-inauguration marches. The strike lacked the marches’ momentum coming off the election, as well as their virality and visuals, like the photogenic pink “pussy hats” that many attendees wore. It is also hard to tally participation or impact because employers could not provide counts of how many women stayed home, and retail figures are not yet available to show whether women stopped spending money.
Earlier in the week, the city’s mayor, Jorge Elorza, said city employees could use vacation or personal days to take the day off.
Some questioned the decision to call a strike at all. “In order to work, a general strike has to actually stop something from functioning,” said Todd Gitlin, a former president of Students for a Democratic Society who has written about political movements. “Anywhere it hasn’t done that can’t be counted as a success. It plays to your inner audience, not your outer audience.”
But Ms. Antunes herself decided to come to work. “Logistically it wouldn’t have worked for me,” she said, “I’m sure I would have wound up working at home. A day off isn’t really a day off in my line of work.” — Jess Bidgood
The strike’s leaders tried to manage expectations from the start. “The object for us isn’t that we hope to shut the whole economy down,” said Linda Sarsour, a co-chairwoman of the event who was arrested. “We see this as an opportunity to introduce women to different tactics of activism. Our goal is not to have the same numbers as the march.”
A few dozen red-clad demonstrators turned out at a downtown plaza in Lafayette, Ind., to speak out against what they said were systemic attacks on women’s rights. The spirited gathering, one of three women’s rallies in the area, included chants of “Hey Trump, step off it, put people over profit” and signs with messages like “I Strike For Full Social Provisioning.”
Critics have charged that the call for a strike reinforces one of the central tensions of this next wave of women’s activism: the gap between white, privileged women and minority, lower-paid women, who may not be able to afford a day off from work and could lose their jobs. Ms. Sarsour said that was why organizers deliberately offered a menu of ways to participate if women could not strike.
“I thought it was empowering,” said Gloria Goings, 63, a retired nurse and first-time protester. She said she had felt compelled to come because of “the injustice that women deal with — like jobs, everyday life.”
Janna Pea, a spokeswoman for the Women’s March, said that as of Tuesday, more than 30,000 people had registered their intent to participate, most of them in the blue states of New York and California.
But attendance was only a fraction of what was in the march in January, when hundreds took to Lafayette’s streets, and the impact on business Wednesday seemed limited.
One-day mass protests are valuable displays of political muscle and hard for politicians to ignore. Ultimately, Mr. Gitlin said, protesters must be wooed into the harder, more dogged work of continuous organizing and political participation that changes policies or wins elections.
“As far as what we’ve seen today, most places are business as usual,” said Erin Easter, a vice president for Greater Lafayette Commerce, a local business group.
There is some anecdotal evidence that this is beginning to take place. Ms. Sarsour said the march had produced an instant national database that is being used to match first-time protesters with organizational tools for activism.
A spokeswoman for the city of Lafayette said she was not aware of any municipal workers taking the day off as part of the strike, nor had she heard of closures or event cancellations related to the strike.
Women, deployed by Planned Parenthood and other groups, were at the forefront of recent town hall meetings, confronting members of Congress about plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Across the Wabash River in West Lafayette, Mayor John R. Dennis said he had not seen any noticeable impact. And a spokesman for nearby Purdue University said there had been no major uptick in staff or student absences.
More than 5,000 small-group meetings were held across the country last month, at the urging of the women’s march organizers, to form networks to push for political change in local communities. A national call-in convened by a similar network of women’s groups to encourage protests about health care drew 58,000 people in mid-February.
There was an exception: Fuel, a coffee shop on Lafayette’s Main Street shut its doors at 11, when the local rallies started. A sign on the door said it had closed “in solidarity with the great global endeavor of gender equality.”
And many women are joining forces with a bevy of groups that have sprung up since the election to foster activism with technological tools, such as Indivisible, which provides a template for influencing members of Congress; SwingLeft, which identifies nearby swing districts and offers opportunities to volunteer; and countless more.
Colleen Mathews, 42, a co-owner of Fuel, said she hoped the closing could “legitimately help start a dialogue.”
Many women marked the day in personal ways. Kellee Stemac, in the conservative city of Plano, Tex., said she had misgivings about asking women to strike, so she planned to wear red and spend money only at women-owned businesses.
“I’ve been feeling like I went from a waitress who bought a coffee shop to a person who can participate in things like this,” said Ms. Mathews.
A few dozen red-clad demonstrators turned out at a downtown plaza in Lafayette, Ind.
Melissa Gruver, 33, who helped organize the events in Lafayette, said the day was meant as a way for women to show their collective strength. Ms. Gruver, who took Wednesday off from her job at Purdue, said she was also trying to limit her unpaid labor as part of the strike.
Gloria Goings, 63, a retired nurse and first-time protester, said she had turned up because of “the injustice that women deal with — like jobs, everyday life.”
“I had to stop myself a couple of times this morning, to not rearrange things in our bathroom that had been moved a couple days ago,” Ms. Gruver said.
But attendance was only a fraction of what it was at the march in January, when hundreds took to Lafayette’s streets, and the impact on business Wednesday seemed limited. Similarly, in Phoenix, a much smaller crowd turned out. Kristy King, who helped organize the January march, said it was a welcome show of solidarity but low-income women may not be able to attend. “I could think of better ways of spending my time,” she said.
Though the downtown rally only lasted about 30 minutes, Ms. Gruver and other women were spending the day at a community center, where they planned to watch movies with female empowerment themes.
In Denver, Theresa Newsom, a teacher, drove 90 minutes from Colorado Springs for her first political march, noting proudly that she had a male substitute in her classroom.
“I’m not going to let others decide for me what I’m going to think about or talk about today,” Ms. Gruver said. “We’re just going to eat and talk about what we want to talk about.” — Mitch Smith
In Silicon Valley, where women have often battled hostile workplaces, many companies were eager to demonstrate their support. Uber, which has been weathering a storm caused by a female engineer’s complaint about sexual harassment, sent a memo to employees last week saying they were welcome to participate in the strike, said MoMo Zhou, a spokeswoman for the company. Because Uber offers unlimited vacation time, no one will be docked pay.
By noon, the New York City police were already helping direct the mostly female crowd that had gathered down one busy block of Midtown Manhattan. Many people wore pink hats or carried protest signs, and there was more than one cardboard fist thrust into the air.
Facebook — where Teresa Shook, a lawyer in Hawaii, first posted the idea of a march on Washington — is marking International Women’s Day with a 24-hour live feed of events.
The protesters represented a diverse array of issues — immigration, health care, the environment — but several people said the main goal of the day was to show solidarity with women around the world.
Sarah Hofstetter, the chief executive of the advertising agency 360i, said that hundreds of the company’s 600 New York employees were participating in some way. At Jezebel, a site aimed at women, the site was run today by men. .
“I’m always telling my sons how strongly I feel about gender equality, said Jennifer Mazzanti, a 40-year-old mother of two sons who had taken the day off from running her technology consulting firm. “I want them to grow up in a world where this isn’t an issue anymore.”
International Women’s Day was also observed around the world. Women in Tbilisi, Georgia, demonstrated under a symbolic “glass ceiling” to illustrate limitations on women’s advancement. Tens of thousands of Polish women held protests. In India, where a toilet is still an aspiration for many women, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a celebration of women who had worked hard to secure this basic item for their families.
Mirna Rodriguez, 26, took the day off from her job in the bookshop at the Museum of Modern Art. She carried a sign in Spanish that said, “Respect my existence or expect my resistance.”
But not everyone had the option to protest on Wednesday. Jo Sorrentino, a 28-year-old arborist from Oakland, Calif., posted on Facebook that she would have lost a day’s pay. “I can’t afford it” on an hourly wage of $21.50,
Ms. Rodriguez’s mother is from El Salvador and her father was born in the Dominican Republic, and she said she had come out on Wednesday in solidarity with other family members who are undocumented and scared of what may happen to them under the Trump administration’s new immigration policies.
Protesters, some of whom chanted “this is what democracy looks like,” began marching in the direction of the Trump International Hotel a little after 1 p.m. Around 1:30, organizers tweeted that the police had taken protesters into custody.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Women’s March said that 10 of its organizers had been arrested as they engaged in civil disobedience. Sgt. Lee Jones of the New York Police Department said at least 13 people had been arrested during from the protest, but could not confirm names or charges until everyone had been processed.— Rachel Abrams
A march attended by several hundred people (and dozens of journalists) briefly blocked streets that surround the White House. The morning protest was one of several events held by separate groups there on Wednesday. During the lunch hour, several marchers went to the Capitol, where lawmakers had staged a walkout and held news conference.
The demonstration near the White House was meant to target Mr. Trump’s so-called global gag rule, but women like Rebecca Wood, 37, said they had a long list of other complaints, from access to affordable health care to the latest version of the Trump administration’s travel ban.
“I used to list so many things on a sign,” said Ms. Wood, a stay-at-home mother who stood with her 4-year-old daughter, Charlie, on her shoulders. “Now I have so many concerns I just have a sign that says ‘RESIST.’”
Several women said that they were just dropping by on their lunch hour. Others said they were able to take the day off because they had helped organize the event.
Wajiha Rais, a 25-year-old lawyer, held a sign that said, “Keep your tiny, tiny, tiny hands off my uterus,” and said she had been using her lunch break to attend recent protests held downtown.
“It feels like the country has regressed quite a bit with our new president,” Ms. Rais said. “We need people to make room for us and our voices instead of speaking for us.”
Others had taken the day off hoping to build momentum from the Women’s March on Washington. Lorraine Osinski, 44, took off from work at an environmental advocacy organization, and wore red at the protest, but as she looked around at the relatively small crowd, she said she saw the work that still had to be done.
“I hope that this is the continuation of the women’s march,” she said, “but this isn’t going to be the one thing that does it.” — Katie Rogers
How is A Day Without a Woman related to the Women’s March?
Think of it this way: The Women’s March on Washington, which took place the day after President Trump’s inauguration and drew hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, was intended to kick off a new era of activism. Since experts say an important metric for a movement’s success is sustained and energized displays of activism, a day of strikes could show the power of targeted protests by women’s groups. But they also caution that one-day protests alone do not build lasting political movements. Supporters must find ways of channeling that energy into continued pressure, and demonstrable political results nationally and in their own communities.
What are organizers asking women to do?
The goal of this demonstration is to show that woman’s presence should not be taken for granted, and to highlight disparities in rights and pay. Organizers are asking women to take off work and to avoid shopping, unless it’s at small businesses owned by minorities or women. Those who are unable to participate are asked to wear red. At least two related protests will take place in Washington, and a march is being organized in Manhattan. Several other marches, organized by groups including International Women’s Strike USA, will be held around the country.
On Capitol Hill, many women planned to wear red in support of the protest. While at least some House Democratic women are expected to “walk off” the House floor — and straight out to a news conference on the steps — there appeared to be no plans for female lawmakers to stay home.
What are some other recent examples of strike-based protests?
Mr. Trump has put into place policies, including a travel ban and a rollback of Obama-era protections for transgender students, that have sparked protests. In February, restaurant owners and activists led a nationwide charge to encourage immigrants to sit out of work for a day, attempting to jolt an industry that relies heavily on immigrant labor to put food on the table. With the #GrabYourWallet movement, activists asked shoppers to boycott Trump products. And in New York City, Yemeni-owned bodegas in New York City shut down for a day as owners protested the first version of the president’s travel ban.
Is A Day Without a Woman causing debate?
Yes. Not everyone supports the idea of women taking a day off. On social media, a debate has already begun over which women will get to participate in the strike, and which women will be stuck behind to fill in the gaps. On the Facebook page for the Alexandria City Public Schools, one of at least two school districts that will be closed for the day on Wednesday, people are questioning who will pay for child care that day, and why tax dollars are going toward teachers taking a day off.
“Any teacher that chooses to not show up and teach our children should be fired on the spot,” one observer wrote. “Protest on your time, not ours.”
And not everyone who is interested in striking can justify taking the time off. Erin Thesing, an elementary schoolteacher in Washington, considered taking the day off, and spent days weighing her options. In an email, Ms. Thesing wrote that she realized taking the day off would mean extra hours of work to make up for lost time, and that others would most likely have to take her place.
“Knowing that my taking leave would require another woman to work in my place made it feel really hard to take leave,” Ms. Thesing wrote.
On Tuesday evening, officials in Prince George’s County, another school district near Washington, said in a statement that they would close for the day.
Some 1,700 teachers requested the day off.
How is International Women’s Day being marked around the world?
On the same day that A Day Without a Woman is taking place, people around the world are marking International Women’s Day with celebrations of women and protests against sexual violence and the gender pay gap.
Women in Tbilisi, Georgia, demonstrated under a symbolic “glass ceiling” to illustrate limitations on women’s advancement. In Moscow, men lined up at flower stalls at the Rizhsky Market to buy bouquets to honor their female relatives.
And in India, where for many women a toilet is still an aspiration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a celebration of women who had worked hard to secure this basic item for their families.
Here is a collection of photographs showing how individuals and governments observed the day, which is observed on March 8 every year.
