Women's Strike Organizers Trying To 'Reorient Conversation About What Work Is'
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A lot of women these days work outside the home.
Monica Jackson, of Oakland, does. She can't afford to go out on strike.
"I need to make money. I gotta take care of my kids," she says.
Others work inside the home - as mom, wife and caretaker. How do they go out on strike?
Abby Cartus, one of the local organizers of "A Day Without a Woman," says everyone can make an impact.
"Work isn't just what happens when you go into your office," Cartus said.
Wherever you find yourself working, there is a call for women to go on strike on Wednesday.
It's being called the "International Women's Strike," or "A Day Without a Woman," and organizers say it's meant to send a clear message that women do a lot wherever they are working and that the world would miss women if they stopped working.
"We're really trying to reorient the conversation about what work is and what women's work is," says Cartus.
Organizers of the day are hoping those able to stay home from work will strike.
But if it's impossible to miss the whole day, they are asking women who want to participate to leave work at 3:08 p.m. That goes for women who work at home as well, at 3:08 p.m., they say, take a break.
They say they want the world to see what happens when women check out of working everywhere.
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Andreja Wilson, another local organizer, says she believes it will sound a loud message.
"Lot of times, women get so little respect," said Wilson. "You go to work, you go home, take care of your kids and you clean the house, and your expected to do that day in and day out."
Organizers are asking supporters to wear red and black all day Wednesday and come out for a solidarity rally at the City County a Building beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday.