(Gainesville, GA) In an attempt to continue women’s rights awareness, many women across the country participated in an event called “A Day Without AWoman.” The event was created in hope to show the world how much women are needed. Women around the country joined together in red attire to support each other. The color red was chosen because “it signifies love and sacrifice, and is the color of energy and action,” according to Tamika Mallory, co-chair of the Women’s March on Washington. Women were also encouraged to participate in various other acts such as boycotting going to work that day and not going to the grocery store among other places their money would be used to further the economy.
Mollie Hemingway, Contributor to The Federalist, believed, “The day was a bit of a bust. A day without women turned out to mostly be like every other day, with a few notable exceptions.” Through her article, “‘A Day Without Women’ Was A Bit of A Bust. Here Were Its Worst Misfires” Hemingway discusses the day from various points that she thought weren’t successful. She states, “Organizers suggested that activists avoid shopping yesterday. But then they said they could go shopping, so long as they shopped at stores owned by women and minorities. In my liberal neighborhood, women passed around lists of stores owned by women and discussed shopping parties.” She went on to say that they should have had a coherent message from the beginning to be more effective.
According to Kemberlee Kaye, contributor for Legal Insurrection, she stated in the article “Did Anyone Notice ‘A Day Without Women’” that, “The day was heavy with symbolism, celebrated largely on social media, with hashtags and color. Women delighted in the timing of a power failure in New York: The Statue of Liberty had gone dark, as if the nation’s most iconic woman was taking the day off, too.”
The official Women’s March website provided the following out of office template for Day Without Women participants:
“ [Your personal greeting]Thank you for your email. I’m out of the office today to participate in the Women’s March on Washington’s Day Without A Woman in observance of International Women’s Day. I am not working today and will respond to your message tomorrow. For anything urgent, please contact [Insert name of male colleague covering your work, if applicable].In solidarity,[Insert your name]”
Kaye also thought the scale of attention “A Day Without Women” received was not recognizable as a disturbance. The day was swiftly brushed under the rug by the country as a whole and it went on with its day like it was any other. What will women do next to make their voices heard?
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