A Day Without A Woman General Strike: It's Happening In Metro Detroit

Women across Metro Detroit and Michigan will mark International Women’s Day Wednesday, March 8, by taking part in a variety of activities organized as part of the Day Without a Woman General Strike. It’s the second demonstration of social activism by the group that organized the Women’s March on Washington and sister marches around the country.

Designed to demonstrate the strength of women in the economy and in society, the Day Without a Woman General Strikes are taking place across the country. Some women are eschewing work, others will wear red in solidarity to signify love, sacrifice and resistance, and others will avoid shopping, unless it’s at a woman- or minority-owned small business.

Southfield photographer Heather Saunders typically does her grocery shopping on Wednesday, but plans to stay home.

“I have made adjustments to my schedule this week to ensure that I do not add any of my hard-earned dollars to the economic cycle of the day,” Saunders told The Detroit News. ““I hope women all over the country understand that there are other ways of supporting without missing work.”

In Royal Oak, Citizen Yoga oner Kacee Must plans to donate proceeds from one of her classes to Haven, a Pontiac shelter and counseling service for domestic violence victims. “The charity is chosen purposefully to show support to women who have faced a lot of adversity,” Must told The Detroit News.

In Corktown, a women-owned organic market, The Farmer’s Hand, plans to donate 20 cents on every dollar in sales in the cafe to the the Mercy Education Project, which supports education programs for low-income women and girls.

The amount of the donation is significant. Although women make up nearly half of the nation’s workforce, year-round workers earn only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy & Research.

“So the Farmer’s Hand will donate our 20 cents for every dollar sold in the cafe to educate and empower other women to follow their dreams and find hope for the future,” Kiki Louya, co-founder of The Farmers Hand, told The Detroit News.

Jill Mitra, of Clarkston, told the Detroit Free Press she isn’t planning to send her children to school. Mitra, who took part in the Women’s March on Washington, is taking the day off from work at her yoga business, too.

“Those of us that can have to stand up for those that don't have a voice and don't have an opportunity,” Mitra told the Free Press “I don't have anything to lose. I just want to help where I can help.I'm not working that day. I'm not taking my kids to school that day. We're staying home, and we'll learn more about politics.”

Mitra, whose parents emigrated from India to the United States, said that since President Trump’s election, said she is “concerned about the direction the country is growing.”

“There's things I have to think about now that I didn't think I'd have to think about before. ... I'm concerned for women,” she told the Free Press. “I'm concerned for minorities. I'm concerned for lesbian, gay and transgender people, and for all people that are trying to make a life in this country and live life in fear.”
At the same time, uprisings and demonstrations that have taken place across the country since Trump’s election are empowering.

“We know now that there's a call to action so that we're moving forward and stepping into more leadership roles because we have to,” Mitra said. “There's no way we can just sit by and let them keep going the way they are. The temperature in the room has changed.”

The Day Without a Woman pulls its inspirations from similar strikes in recent weeks, including the Day Without Immigrants strike that closed grocery stores, restaurants, construction companies and other businesses across the country.

Some big events are planned in Michigan, including an Eastern Michigan University march, a rally in Marquette and a shopping event at Detroit’s Freedom House, which supports asylum-seeking refugees fleeing persecution and torture from around the globe.

At that event, from noon-6 p.m., 20 percent of sales from a market featuring wares produced by artisans from throughout India, will be donated to Freedom House, which lost its Housing and Urban Development funding.because it provides sanctuary to undocumented immigrants.

More events are found on Women’s March on Michigan’s website and its Facebook page.

Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images News/Getty Images