Page 12 The Skanner March 8, 2017
News
Women Go on Strike in US to Show Their Economic Clout
By ERRIN HAINES
WHACK
Associated Press
P H I L A DE L P H I A—
Some American women
stayed home from work,
joined rallies or wore red
to demonstrate their eco-
nomic clout Wednesday
as part of a multitude of
International Women’s
Day events held around
the globe.
The Day Without a
Woman protest in the
U.S. was put together by
organizers of the vast
women’s marches that
drew more than 1 mil-
lion Americans into the
streets the day after Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s in-
auguration.
The turnout this time
appeared in many plac-
es to be far smaller. And
there were no immediate
estimates of how many
women heeded the call to
skip work.
A crowd of about 1,000
people, the vast majority
of them women, gathered
on Fifth Avenue in the
shadow of Trump Tower
to demonstrate. Women
dressed in red and waved
signs reading “Neverthe-
less she persisted,” ‘’Mi-
sogyny out of the White
House now” and “Resist
like a girl.”
“Trump is terrifying.
His entire administra-
tion, they have no re-
spect for women or our
rights,” said 49-year-old
Adina Ferber, who took
a vacation day from her
job at an art gallery to at-
tend the demonstration.
“They need to deal with
us as an economic force.”
Rallies
were
also
planned in Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Milwaukee,
Washington and Berke-
ley, California. Some
businesses and institu-
tions said they would ei-
ther close or give female
employees the day off.
School in such places as
Prince George’s County,
Maryland; Alexandria,
Virginia; and Chapel
Hill, North Carolina,
canceled classes after
hundreds of teachers
and other employees let
it be known they would
be out. In Providence,
Rhode Island, the munic-
ipal court closed for lack
of staff members.
The U.S. event — in-
spired in part by the Day
Without an Immigrant
protest held last month —
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AP PHOTO/MATT ROURKE
Organizers of January’s Women’s March called for ‘Day Without a Woman’ strike
Teacher Pia Martin greets students as they arrive to school at the
Science Leadership Academy as teachers take part in “A Day Without
a Woman” demonstration in Philadelphia, Wednesday, March 8, 2017.
Organizers of January’s Women’s March are calling on women to stay
home from work and not spend money in stores or online to show
their impact on American society.
was part of the U.N.-des-
ignated
International
Women’s Day.
In Rome, hundreds of
women set off on a march
from the Colosseum to
demand equal rights.
Germany’s
Lufthansa
airline had six all-female
crews flying from sever-
al cities in the country to
Berlin.
Sweden’s women’s soc-
“
quiet,” she said. “I also
wanted to make a state-
ment to say that women
are doing it for them-
selves. We’re out here in
the workforce and mak-
ing a difference every
day.”
Trump took to Twitter
and asked others to join
him in “honoring the
critical role of women” in
the U.S. and around the
Trump is terrifying. His en-
tire administration, they
have no respect for women
or our rights. They need to
deal with us as an economic
force
cer team replaced the
names on the backs of
their jerseys with tweets
from Swedish women.
Finland announced a
new $160,000 Interna-
tional Gender Equality
Prize. Women also held
rallies in Tokyo and Ma-
drid.
In New York, a stat-
ue of a fearless-looking
girl was placed in front
of Wall Street’s famous
charging bull sculpture.
The girl appeared to be
staring down the ani-
mal. A plaque at her feet
read: “Know the power
of women in leadership.
SHE makes a difference.”
As part of the Day
Without a Woman pro-
test, women were also
urged to refrain from
shopping.
Some criticized the
strike, warning that
many women cannot af-
ford to miss work or find
child care. Organizers
asked those unable to
skip work to wear red in
solidarity.
Monique LaFonta Le-
one, a 33-year-old health
care consultant in Colo-
rado Springs, Colorado,
had to work but put on
a red shirt and donat-
ed to charity, including
Planned Parenthood.
“I have bills to pay, but I
wanted to make my voice
heard, no matter how
world. He tweeted that he
has “tremendous respect
for women and the many
roles they serve that are
vital to the fabric of our
society and our econo-
my.”
Lovely Monkey Tat-
too, a female-owned tat-
too parlor in Whitmore
Lake, Michigan, offered
female-centric
tattoos
with messages like “Nev-
ertheless, She Persist-
ed” — a reference to the
recent silencing of Sen.
Elizabeth Warren on the
Senate floor — for $50
to $100, with proceeds
going to Planned Parent-
hood.
Women make up more
than 47 percent of the
U.S. workforce and are
dominant among nurs-
es, dental assistants, ca-
shiers, accountants and
pharmacists, according
to the census.
They make up at least
a third of physicians and
surgeons, and the same
with lawyers and judges.
Women also represent
55 percent of all college
students.
At the same time,
American women earn
80 cents for every dollar
a man makes. The me-
dian income for women
was $40,742 in 2015, com-
pared with $51,212 for
men, according to census
data.