And there it is.
After the Women’s March and International Women’s Strike both called for Americans to participate in a strike on March 8, speculation ensued as to whether the two organizations were working in cooperation.
This question was important because the Women’s March in January managed to attract support from a wide swath of women so its cooperation with the International Women’s Strike, a much more radical effort organized by extremists such as Angela Davis, could jeopardize its ability to replicate that diverse coalition.
After declining to return the Washington Examiner‘s requests for comment on the matter, the Women’s March confirmed these suspicions in a post about the strike published on its website.
“The Women’s March stands in solidarity with the International Women’s Strike organizers, feminists of color and grassroots groups in planning global actions for equity, justice and human rights,” the page reads.
The International Women’s Strike’s official press statement confirms this as well, going even further by suggesting that the Women’s March called for the strike after being inspired by their strike first. “We are also cooperating with the Women’s March, which has decided to call for A Day Without A Woman in solidarity with the International Women’s Strike,” the statement reads.
Let’s revisit what the organizers of the International Women’s Strike are suggesting people do on March 8 just to understand what, exactly, the Women’s March is standing in “solidarity” with.
The International Women’s Strike is staunchly opposed to “lean-in feminism” and sees its march as fundamentally “anti-capitalist.” In announcing the strike, the group declared that violence against women also includes “the violence of the market, of debt, of capitalist property relations.”
On March 8, it’s calling for “a day of striking, marching, blocking roads, bridges, and squares, abstaining from domestic, care and sex work, boycotting, calling out misogynistic politicians and companies, striking in educational institutions.” The International Women’s Strike is also asking participants to engage in “civil disobedience” and “organize a boycott of chosen local misogynists.”
That’s what the Women’s March is now “standing in solidarity with.”
It is radical, extremist, anti-capitalist, fringe activism. It is deliberately exclusive, and it is deeply out of touch with the mainstream.
The real boycott on March 8 should come from women refusing to participate in a strike that chose to align itself with extremists, rather than representing their interests.
Added bonus: Read the template of the letter the Women’s March is suggesting participants send to their employers in order to explain their absence on March 8.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
