Women’s Work: International Women’s Day and #DayWithoutAWoman

As the old adage goes; “A woman’s work is never done”. We’ve always thought that this applies well to activism more than anything else. Our company values at MY SISTER revolve around raising awareness and being vocal in situations of injustice or inequality, which is why you will often hear us supporting and talking about protests, boycotts, and more, or holding events in our store (like our upcoming International Women’s Day & #DayWithoutAWoman celebration) that coincide with these movements. 

If you’re seeing the #DayWithoutAWoman hashtag and wondering exactly what it means, or if you’re uncertain what International Women’s Day is all about, read on to discover the significance that March 8^th holds.
 
First, A Day Without A Woman. This initiative, by the same wonderful team that brought us the Women’s March on Washington, carries on in the spirit of the recent “Day Without Immigrants”, encouraging women to take action to demonstrate the enormous power that women hold in our socio-economic system.

Some actions for the #DayWithoutAWoman include:

• “Strike” and take the day off of work
• Refrain from purchasing anything (unless it is made by a small, woman-run company)
• Wear red (the color of both love and revolution)

This movement is important. Though women are the most powerful consumer group (ever wondered why most advertisements seem to be focused on women rather than men?), our “power” in the economic sector begins to dwindle after our consumer habits. Women’s work is still undervalued and often underpaid. Women still perform the bulk of unpaid work around the world (childcare, cooking, cleaning, farming), and discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace are rampant.

 
International Women’s Day, an annual celebration of women as well as a time for activism, is taking on the theme of championing change in the way our economic system works this year by asking women and men alike to #BeBoldForChange and speak out about why and how we should be working toward creating a better working world for women.

The United Nation’s theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030”. We love the boldness involved with putting a date on the calendar for creating an equal, “50-50” working world. If you want to learn more about what policy makers and activists alike are doing to make #Planet5050 a reality, follow the hashtag for more news or read more on the United Nation's website.

We’re here to support you in whatever way you’re choosing to participate in March 8th’s events. If you’re “striking”, come hang out with us in the MY SISTER shop and get treated to some goodies (1616 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55408 from 11a.m.-7p.m.). If you want to talk about women’s activism in our community, we’re always up for a chat!

Get the details on Wednesday’s celebration here, and tell all your lady boss friends to meet you at MY SISTER!