"In the spirit of women and their allies coming together for love and liberation, we offer A Day Without A Woman. We ask: do businesses support our communities, or do they drain our communities? Do they strive for gender equity or do they support the policies and leaders that perpetuate oppression? Do they align with a sustainable environment or do they profit off destruction and steal the futures of our children?" - Women’s March Organizers
On March 8th, we celebrate International Women’s Day. What you may not know is that this day, when first established in 1909 by the Socialist Party of America, was created to honor a strike led by women garment workers in 1908 who were fighting unfair labor practices, including child labor, long-hours, and poor pay. It’s almost 100 years later and the struggles of these organizers still feel relevant.
While much progress has been made in the last century, most of the strides made have been for white cisgender women- yet they still only earn 82 cents to each dollar made by white men. According to the same report by Pew Research since 1980, “by comparison, the pay gap between black women and white men narrowed by only 9 cents — from 56 cents to every dollar white men earned in 1980 to 65 cents in 2015. Hispanic women made just 58 cents for every dollar white men made in 2015, a 5-cent increase.” It’s important to note that these statistics only apply to cisgender women, and that when we look at economic discrimination against trans women and nonbinary people, the numbers become even more stark. Reports from the Movement Advancement Project and the National Center for Transgender Equality show that transgender workers are nearly “four times more likely than the population as a whole to have a household income of under $10,000 (15 percent vs. 4 percent at the time the workers were surveyed).”
Bottom-line: economic inequality is both a result of prejudice and a risk for further reinforcing inequalities. While women and nonbinary people are leaders in organizing in the struggles against injustice, there is a very clear impact to their rights by climate disruption. Statistics from multiple slow-onset climate events and large storms, such as Hurricane Katrina and others, highlight that climate disruption is not gender neutral.
The risks of a rapidly changing climate include a further degradation of human rights. Due to socio-economic conditions, cultural beliefs and traditional practices, women and girls are more likely to be affected if a hazard strikes, facing increased loss of livelihoods, gender-based violence, and even loss of life during, and in the aftermath of, disasters. In order to benefit from the knowledge and experience of those most impacted by climate disruption, we must center economic, gender, and racial justice within our movement. This is why the Sierra Club, the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States, stands with “A Day Without Women”.
This International Women’s Day please join us in working in solidarity with fights against racism, xenophobia, transphobia, sexism, and all forms of discrimination. We and the organizers of the strike have some suggested actions that you can take:
Take the day off from paid and unpaid labor (if you are able)
Wear red in solidarity with those striking
Abstain from shopping. But if you do shop, shop at women/femme and/or people of color owned businesses
Divest from banks funding the Dakota Access Pipeline, such as Wells Fargo
Attend a local event run by strike organizers, Black Lives Matter, the Fight for $15, or local social justice organizations
Donate to your local social justice organizations
Learn more about the link between women, gender, climate change, and the environment